SERVICE AND MAINTENANCE
Achieving better energy efficiency through good servicing and maintenance
We are all aware of the F-Gas legislation and the drive to low GWP refrigerants, but this is only one part of the overall solution to reduce climate changing emissions. As well as refrigerant choice, there are other actions that can be taken to maintain or improve energy efficiency, reduce total emissions and in most cases, they will often pay for themselves over the lifetime of the equipment as this article from Climalife illustrates.
T
o ensure that systems continually operate at their optimum level, a good maintenance program is recommended.
In recent years there has been a decline in end users seeing the value of routine maintenance in favour of a more reactive type of approach. For these users, this could prove to be more costly in the long run than paying for good regular maintenance. This is probably the easiest strategy to employ but often end users do not see the benefits of spending money on a system that appears to have nothing wrong with it. However simply cleaning the heat exchangers, ensuring fans are operating correctly and checking the system operating parameters can have a significant impact on system emissions.
The graph shows the impact of increasing condensing temperatures with R-449A at low and medium temperature conditions. Even a very small increase in the condensing
temperature can lead to significant decreases in energy efficiency, for example, an increase from 25°C to 27°C condensing temperature can lead to a 5-8% loss of compressor energy efficiency. It doesn’t take much fouling of the condenser coil to cause a small pressure increase and it is easily prevented by regular use of cleaning products which will prevent build-up of debris that can block the air flow through the coils, maintaining the optimum energy efficiency. In situations where condenser fans have either failed or are malfunctioning, energy efficiencies could easily drop by 25% or more.
Oil Changes
Regular oil changes should also form part of a good maintenance regime, to ensure all the moving parts of a compressor are lubricated to their optimum level to give you optimum energy efficiency. Combine regular cleaning with oil changes and this will have a large positive impact on energy efficiency.
Coil Cleaning
Coils should be cleaned within ventilation systems as the coil is in the direct air flow path on all ventilation systems. Therefore, it has a direct impact on the rate of air flow, efficiency of heat transfer and indoor air quality. When coils are covered in dirt or debris it adds an extra layer between the air that is blowing over the coils and the refrigerant inside that absorbs and releases the heat. This layer of dirt acts like an insulator and makes heat transfer less effective. With poor heat transfer it decreases the efficiency of cooling cycles and can lead to units running hotter and longer but with the requirement to produce the same degree of cooling making them work much harder for the same target temperature. Having units with dirty coils not only leads to higher energy bills, poorer air quality and system reliability can also be adversely affected. Even relatively low levels of deposition on the coils can cause these detrimental effects and potentially decrease system lifetime. A powerful cleaning product such as Frionett® Coil Cleaner, from Climalife could be used for the degreasing of indoor unit coils. By using a product such as this, you will see
16 May 2022 •
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