The cold storage building was one of over 30 Preferred Freezer Services cold storage facilities acquired by Lineage Logistics. Lineage managers acted swiftly to replace the Perth Amboy facility’s challenged condenser. They chose the eco-PMC condenser by Evapco to maintain the facility’s steady temperatures: 34°F for large refrigerators, freezers at -5°F, and a loading dock at 38°F.

Future-proofing operations at the facility was another priority alongside replacement. The condenser coil bundle was designed to allow a future change-out from R22 to R449a, an HFO refrigerant blend, in the near future. Engineers at the manufacturer oversized the condenser slightly, from 5,160 to 5,670 MBH, to accommodate the refrigerant exchange. System components were created to be suitable for the conversion, requiring two inlets and four outlets per coil, to ensure the new refrigerant blend doesn’t hang up in the condenser.

Galvanized steel was the material of choice, and with galvanized steel, there’s always the risk of white rust, which can lead to premature deterioration. So the overhaul also included factory pretreatment of the coil bundle to reduce its chemical reactivity, as well as passivation and water treatment to ensure the galvanized metal’s long-term stability.

Meanwhile, the Smart Shield — a solid chemistry water treatment system to control scale, corrosion and microbial growth — was installed on the spray pump side of the unit.

The factory pre-treatment on the coils was important for the retrofit because the new equipment would be placed immediately under heat load. Natural, on-site passivation would have taken a few months, and only while not in use.

The eco-PMC condenser coils were built and finned for enhanced thermal performance, then hot-dipped galvanized and taken back to the plant to begin Evapco’s passivation pretreatment called Passiv-Assist. This two-step process begins before a unit ships, and continues for the first four to eight weeks of its operation in the field. Then the temporary passivation panel is removed from service. The Smart Shield remains in use.

The new eco-PMC condenser uses substantially less water than models with bare tube coil bundles due to the enhanced heat transfer efficiency of the eco-PMC’s “Ellipti-fin” coil construction. It also offers superior heat rejection while using substantially less water.