34 Supermarket Systems and Equipment
Finnish retailers adopt Mexichem refrigerant
Lassi Suckman, managing director of Telekylmä Inc at the new Valintatalo retail store in Loukinainen, Finland
TWO RETAIL OUTLETS in Finland have started to use Mexichem’s well established alternative to R404A and R22, KLEA 407A. With a GWP almost half that of R404A, and equivalent performance to both R404A and R22, Mexichem says that KLEA 407A is an ideal candidate for both new and existing installations.
It has been successfully installed in the Valintatalo chain outlet in Lieto and in the Alepa chain outlet at Sitratori in Helsinki. The Valintatalo outlet in Lieto was a new build, whilst the Alepa shop in Helsinki was a retrofit project. The size of both shops and the timetable of the refurbishment project was such that it would not have been feasible to install a carbon dioxide plant in either store.
The customer in the case of the Valintatalo store is Suomen Lähipauppa Oy.
The refrigeration equipment and systems were designed and constructed by Telekylmä Oy, working with Mexichem’s Finnish distributor, Onninen Oy. Telekylmä is in the vanguard of launching new technologies.
“The Valintatalo outlet in Lieto is a medium-sized shop with its
ACR News March 2014
own machine room. The freezer and refrigeration areas were both constructed for use with KLEA 407A, without significant modifications. The technological solutions did not involve any great changes, but they were still worth doing,” said Lassi Suckman, managing director of Telekylmä Oy. “In Finland we have to take into account the exceptional environmental circumstances and the refrigeration technology has to work despite temperature fluctuations over the year of as much as 60 degrees. Such extremes of temperature cause great differences in pressure, and the machinery has to operate quite differently
here from the way it does in more southern climes,” explained Mr Suckman, who has 22 years of experience in the field. The retrofit project was carried out at the Alepa outlet belonging to Helsingin Osuuskauppa. If the entire refrigeration system in a working grocery store had to be replaced, as would be necessary if moving to CO2, the whole shop would have to be closed for several weeks. By changing the existing refrigerant to KLEA R407A, the changeover was fairly quick, letting the shop sell refrigerated products again. Matti Eerikäinen, a refrigeration technology specialist with SOK, said: “We needed to carry out a comprehensive refurbishment in our Sitratori outlet. However, we wanted to keep most of the existing refrigeration machinery and equipment, and simply change the refrigerant. Replacing the old system with carbon dioxide was not a feasible option, because in practice it would have meant the replacement of the entire refrigeration system. “At this site, replacing the old refrigerant with KLEA 407A was easier due to the system’s existing electronic controls and electronic expansion valves.”
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