46 // Technology
Gaining Natural Experience
Stan Shumbo, Eastern Refrigeration
Eastern Refrigeration has installed three different CO2 refrigeration systems in supermarket across New England, including a transcritical system with heat reclaim – By Michael Garry and Mark Hamstra
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any supermarket operators have hit the “pause” button on new-store development as they seek to digest the implications of last year’s acquisition of Whole Foods Market by Amazon and the future of bricks-and-mortar retailing in a world of increasing ecommerce availability. That slowdown in development may also be having a negative impact the installation of new refrigeration systems — although operators continue to test and deploy natural refrigeration technologies, according to Stan Shumbo, VP at Colchester, Conn.-based Eastern Refrigeration, a refrigeration contractor for the supermarket industry. Shumbo recently spoke with Accelerate America about his company’s experience with CO 2 refrigeration technologies at three varied projects across New England.
“People are talking about [CO 2 refrigeration], but right now the whole supermarket industry is kind of in flux, because of what’s going on with AmazonWhole Foods,” said Shumbo. “Everyone is kind of taking a step back. I think a lot of us have seen that over the last year.”
CAPTURING HEAT O n e C O 2 ins tallati o n that E as te r n Refrigeration recently completed at an independent supermarket in New England featured a rooftop transcritical CO 2 booster system from Hillphoenix. The system — Eastern Refrigeration’s first transcritical CO 2 installation — was added as part of a store remodel that was done while the store remained open. One of the advantages of the system is that it reclaims the heat given off by the CO 2 , and uses it to provide ambient heating and dehumidification for the store. The hot gas is piped to a special heat reclaim coil, which Eastern Refrigeration had specially made for the installation and placed in the HVAC room. (The store features a Season 4 HVAC system.) In addition, the refrigeration system uses a glycol heat exchanger to heat the store’s water supply, using glycol that has been heated by the compressor.
Shumbo also said natural refrigeration technologies are still seen as expensive by many supermarket operators, particularly smaller independents with limited resources.
Capturing this heat for reuse in the store for both the air and water helps boost the return on the investment in the new refrigeration equipment.
“We obviously want to see them go to natural refrigerants, but a lot of the smaller guys cannot afford it,” he said.
In order to install the new system while the store was operating, Eastern Refrigeration first placed the condenser on the roof and installed and pressure -tested all of the new piping for the refrigerant loop in the ceiling while the previous refrigeration system was
But Shumbo said it’s difficult for him to recommend anything other than natural refrigerants, because of the uncertain future for synthetic refrigerants.
Accelerate America // May 2018