No food processing or primary processing organisation afford a breakdown in its heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration system (HVAC/R). So much depends on the system in terms of maintaining product freshness and processing integrity. Failing or faulty systems can present major spoilage expenses and risks to product purity.
Victorian refrigeration and air conditioning repairer, Simpson’s Refrigeration, recently faced the task of repairing the failing air-conditioning system of one of Australia’s major processors of tomatoes.
Due to the airborne acid resulting from tomato processing, the air-conditioning system was corroding and exposing the system to the possibility of leaking potentially dangerous and harmful refrigerants.
Having replaced the evaporator and trying to patch and weld a troublesome leak, the system was still causing the company and technician grief until the Director of Simpson Refrigeration, Bill Simpson, discovered the Super Seal sealant, which is being introduced to Australian by GO Distribution .
The Super Seal sealants, available from GO Distribution, are formulated to permanently repair leaks up to 300 microns, in evaporators, condensers and pipelines – pinprick size holes that can be extremely hard to find and difficult to access to fix (especially when HVAC/R equipment is located in walls or under floors).
The Super Seal attacks the problem from the inside out, in a leak healing process that can be compared with how blood clots to stop the bleeding of a wound in a human body. The sealant is injected into the HVAC/R system to circulate with the refrigerant and oil that is the lifeblood of an HVAC/R system.
At the point where the refrigerant leaks through the tiny punctures in the system, it begins to lower the ambient air temperature down to the dew point, where micro droplets of moisture are deposited around the leak area. The escaping refrigerant containing Super Seal reacts with this moisture to form a permanent, low tensile crystalline structure, which seals the hole from the inside out.
“It’s worked perfectly and now, 18 months later the system is still operating and the sealant has stopped the leaks,” says Bill Simpson, whose company has been operating since 1978 and is based in Kyabram, in North Eastern Victoria near Shepparton.
Before discovering Super Seal, Bill Simpson used to continually patch and weld leaking holes, a process that had no guarantee of success and which ultimately resulted in some businesses totally replacing their failing systems.
The Super Seal has given businesses another option and increased the life of HVAC/R equipment; a fact demonstrated further by its use in helping Kyabram’s local secondary college’s air-conditioning system to continue operating and also in repairing a dairy farmer’s milk vat.
The school’s air-conditioning system had a crack and was leaking almost four kilograms of gas over three and a half weeks. The school was aware of the problem and was faced with the prospect of purchasing an expensive new unit. Super Seal enabled them to buy some time whilst still operating the old unit and prepare to budget for and purchase a new system.
For the dairy farmer, Super Seal has also been a benefit.
“Since the drought, it has become very difficult for farmers to operate and the high costs associated with maintenance can potentially put you out of business”, says Bill Simpson whose business has also been affected by the drought.
A new milk vat can cost more than $60,000 and for a dairy farmer who is in the middle of the drought this could render them broke. The time it takes to pull apart a vat and then reassemble it once it has been repaired also results in lost money, time and business, because the cows’ milk cannot be cooled. Repairs to a vat can cost up to $20,000.
Faced with the expensive possibility of replacement, one of Bill Simpson’s client’s milk vats that was leaking refrigerant was saved by the Super Seal. The vat is now in good working order and has stopped leaking refrigerant, giving the farmer extended use of his system.
GO Distribution Director, Gary Oborne says preventing leaks has helped many businesses save money on constant repair and maintenance costs, either providing a permanent solution or keeping important production going and allowing owners to consider whether a new unit may be required at some point in the future.
“Whether it’s your air-conditioning system, refrigerator, milk vat or whatever HVAC/R system you are using, if your system needs to be replaced, it becomes very expensive and time-consuming. Bob Simpson’s examples are continuing the list of success stories which are giving HVAC/R equipment a new and longer life,” says Gary Oborne.