While new refrigeration control systems are significant capital investments, their value far exceeds their cost. In large food processing or cold storage facilities, refrigeration typically accounts for more than half of the facility’s total electric energy use. And with unplanned downtime costing many facilities tens of thousands of dollars per day, an aging refrigeration control system can put your business at significant risk.
If you answer yes to any of the following questions, it may be time to upgrade or replace your existing system:
- Is your current control system more than 10-15 years old?
- Have you experienced unplanned facility downtime due to refrigeration failures?
- Are the individual components of your refrigeration controls system operating as islands, meaning they work independently and don’t “talk” to each other?
- Are you still operating on a serial network that’s linear, making it difficult to expand your capabilities?
- Do you have unstable suction and head pressures? Are you unable to trim fans and pumps via VFD control?
Additional questions include:
- Do you have multiple partially loaded compressors?
- Do your motors trip due to motor overload?
- Do you have difficulty finding replacement control system parts? Are your utility bills out of control due to excessive energy use?
Today’s refrigeration control systems represent truly advanced technology and provide numerous benefits. In the next post in our series on refrigeration controls systems, we’ll discuss those benefits.