Poultry International

1Determine your refrigerant charge now Before you do anything else, you need to work out how much refrigerant is in your facility. The three benchmarks for different tiers of compliance are 3kg, 30kg and 300kg – the more contained, the stricter the legislation.

2Devise a long-term strategy Take some time to work out the most cost-effective approach to F-Gas for your facility. It is likely that you will have to invest in leak detection equipment of some sort, but think carefully about what’s best for your site – a little more money spent now could mean much bigger savings over time. You also need to consider who is responsible for ensuring leaks are dealt with once they’re detected.

3Consider all your options Talk to a supplier(s) with a range of products so you have a good understanding of what’s available. For example, a fixed multi-point leak detection system enables you to maintain a constant monitoring presence on-site, alerting you to leaks before they get out of control. This type of system detects refrigerant loss and alerts relevant parties as required. Compared to the cost of lost refrigerant the payback period can be short, resulting in significant savings.

To ensure the most accurate readings and to minimise servicing costs the best option is an infra-red system which can be programmed to detect trace levels of a variety of gases.

4Gather and analyse leakage data The legislation dictates that any facility with a refrigerant charge of more than 3kg must monitor leakage. Well formatted data can provide targeted management information leading to substantial savings as well as compliance with EC 842/2006. There are a number of tools on the market that will analyse the information for you, meaning you don’t need a degree in computer programming to decipher the mountains of data created.

5Ensure the right people receive relevant
information

Once reports have been generated, ensure there is a system in place to distribute them to the correct people. For example, if you have a refrigeration manager responsible for the F-Gas strategy across multiple sites, they should be given a high level portfolio analysis. Alongside this, the facilities maintenance contractor should receive email alerts with details of the location, time and scale of leaks.

facilities who are responsible for compliance.

However, it does not need to be a picture of doom and gloom. Yes, there will be upfront costs and increased

maintenance but many poultry producers and processors stand to make a rapid return on their investment, or even become more profitable, as a result of minimising the leakage of F-Gas.

What can be done?

PICKING FINGER INSTALLER

Model PFI-1

• Saves installation time

• Eliminates finger damage

• Installs fingers up to 5 1/2” long

• Easily used inside picking machine

• More power - no springs - air & air

• Stainless and aluminum construction

View PFI-1 information at our website

Jarvis Products Corporation

33 Anderson Road, Middletown, CT 06457 Tel: (860) 347-7271

Fax: (860) 347 - 9905 / 347-6978

E-mail: jarvis. products.corp@snet.net http://www.jarvisproducts.com

Leaks often go undetected for long periods of time, gradually becoming bigger until the system loses a significant portion of its charge. Monitoring for leaks to catch them in the early stages is of paramount importance, both for cost-effective management and reducing emissions into the atmosphere. A large food processing facility can lose significant amounts of money every year as a result of refrigerant leakage.

Look at it this way: a system losing just 15% of its refrigerant charge through leakage could easily experience a 50% drop in cooling capacity and a corresponding 100% increase in energy consumption. Add to this the potential loss of perishable goods due to temperature fluctuation and you have a costly situation on your hands.