/Training/
SHIFTING GEARS To meet the needs of supermarkets installing transcritical and cascade refrigeration systems, AAA Refrigeration Service has stepped up its training program to encompass CO2 technology
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n November 9, 2015, technicians at a still-under-construction DeCicco & Sons supermarket in Larchmont, N.Y., set about turning on a carbon dioxide transcritical refrigeration system – something they had never done before.
On that first day, the technicians, from AAA Refrigeration Service, working with field personnel from equipment suppliers Hillphoenix and Emerson Climate Technologies, programmed the rack and case controllers. The next day — which included a visit to the store by Accelerate America — they filled up the transcritical rack in the engine room in the store’s basement with Coleman Grade CO2 gas (99.99% pure) from several tall tanks, and checked on the rack’s compressors. The third day they made sure the refrigerated and frozen cases and walk-ins worked as expected. Then they ran the system for a week to weed out any remaining imperfections, preparing the cases to be stocked with food. The all- CO2 transcritical system represents a number of firsts. It’s the first such system for DeCicco & Sons, a six-store grocery retailer based in Pelham, N.Y., just north of New York City. (See “DeCicco’s Bold Move,” Accelerate America, Oct. 2015.) And it’s the first transcritical system installed and started up by AAA Refrigeration, based in the Bronx, N.Y. It will be the first to be maintained by AAA once the store opens to the public on December 11.
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Accelerate America November 2015