August 2019

President’s Message by Dave Rule

Once again, our industry is facing a major decision as to the preferred refrigerant that will provide appropriate performance and efficiency while considering the impact on the environment and public safety. This is a complicated question that must address the many diverse applications that are required for industrial and commercial refrigeration, many types of process cooling requirements ranging from manufacturing needs to pharmaceutical production and the general comfort cooling needs of public buildings to residential.

August 2019

Hydrocarbons — A Natural Next Step For IIAR

Many hydrocarbons such as Propane, Propylene, and Iso-Butane, make great refrigerants. They are natural, have zero ODP, GWP less than 4, and are categorized as non-toxic. Compared to the HFC’s and HFO’s (also known as “F-Gases”) they have:

August 2019

Future Focus

As refrigerants with highglobal-warming potential are phased out, natural refrigerants are being considered for new applications, and the industry is seeing increased use of secondary refrigeration units that allow users to lower their ammonia charge.

August 2019

Industry Research Leads to New Insight on Optimum Pipe Sizing

After extensive research and analysis, IIAR’s Ammonia Refrigeration Foundation has released new information on the economics of piping selection and on the proper selection of ammonia wet suction risers, which can help end users prevent oversizing of piping and using more energy than is necessary.

August 2019

Curbing Confined Space Confusion

As code interpretations continue to change and improvements slowly morph into normal practice, when the time comes to tackle OSHA’s confined space standard, where do you start?

August 2019

Education Committee Reports Scholarship Program Growth

Your Foundation’s scholarship program has been steadily growing since it was launched in 2016, helping address the industry’s growing need for specifically trained engineers.

August 2019

Selecting the Right Compressors

For a refrigeration system to run at optimal energy efficiency, it’s important to carefully select the right type of compressors need to be selected, and the correct cooling method employed.

August 2019

Shipping Bay: Safety & Reduced Energy Usage Overlap (a Win-Win)

While working as the utilities and facilities manager, to bring on a new major expansion at a large food manufacturing facility, “Safety Always” was part of the culture. The new expansion called for growing from a facility with eight lines of existing production to an immediate addition of sixteen production lines - and targeted to expand to thirty-two lines of production within two more years.

August 2019

IIAR Extends Safety, Education to Global Partners

IIAR continues to be active internationally, participating in and sponsoring conferences and natural refrigeration education in India, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Colombia, with the goal to share IIAR’s message to important global stakeholders.

August 2019

The Catch 22 of R22 Replacements

If you’ve recently googled “it’s almost 2020 and I still have R22” then hopefully this article grants you some timely insights. The world of refrigerants has become much more complex since you could refer to your refrigerant as “Freon” and not make an embarrassing social blunder because you were actually using a halogenated hydrocarbon and not a fluorinated hydrocarbon mixed with an unsaturated fluorinated alkene.

August 2019

IIAR Webinar Series Addresses Safe Work Practices

The International Institute of Ammonia Refrigeration has researched and gathered information from several members over the past year to develop a series of seven “Permit to Work: Safe Work Practices” webinars to help members of the industry stay safe and remain OSHA compliant.

August 2019

Health Savings Accounts: Are They Just What the Doctor Ordered?

Are health insurance premiums taking too big of a bite out of your budget? Do you wish you had better control over how you spend your health-care dollars? If so, you may be interested in an alternative to traditional health insurance called a health savings account (HSA).

August 2019

Knowing Without Looking?

Recently, I was working with the main refrigeration operaLESSON tor at a facility when he stated something that I felt was not a good idea. Since I would be working with this person and company for some time over the foreseeable future I didn’t respond to his statement, but started thinking if this is how many others feel.

August 2019

EPA Continues Compliance Focus on Ammonia Facilities

Compliance and safety in ammonia facilities continues to be a high priority for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In 2016, EPA announced a series of National Enforcement Initiatives focused on improving safety in a variety of high hazard industries. Among these initiatives was an effort entitled “Reducing Accidental Releases at Industrial and Chemical Facilities”. EPA has placed specific emphasis on ammonia facilities as a part of the initiative, which has subsequently been renamed a National Compliance Initiative (NCI).

August 2019

Operating Cost Comparison between Transcritical CO2 and Ammonia Recirculation Systems in a Cold Storage Warehouse

Henningsen Cold Storage Co. (HCS) is a public refrigerated warehousing company based primarily in the Pacific Northwest. In business since 1923, HCS operates more than 60 million ft3 of multi-temperature-controlled storage at 13 facilities. The company embraces a continuous improvement culture and has applied it countless times in designing new facilities and optimizing existing facilities.