Steve McMahon, UK retail sales manager at refrigerant monitoring experts Parasense, takes a look at the importance of leak detection equipment in the fight to reduce harmful emissions
THE Institute of Refrigeration’s Real Zero campaign is spearheading the industry’s attempts to achieve significant reductions in carbon emissions due to refrigerant leakage from installed systems.

Much of the focus of the Real Zero campaign and general media coverage is the environmental damage these leaks cause. There’s no doubting that this is considerable; in 2005, leaking supermarket refrigeration systems emitted the equivalent of 2,000,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere (that’s the equivalent of flying from London to New York over 2,500,000 times). This alone is reason enough to need to put an end to refrigerant leakage but let’s not forget that there are financial benefits to be gained from stopping refrigerant leakage. This is good news in the current economic climate.

A 15% drop in refrigerant charge can lead to a 100% increase in running costs. If an estate has 1,000,000kg of refrigerant in its systems and that loses just 20% of its charge over the year, at £15/kg this equates to a £3m loss.

Refrigerant charge doesn’t decrease of its own accord – if it’s decreasing it’s because there’s a leak. And these figures aren’t scare-mongering or worst-case scenarios either. Across a large estate, they are far from unrealistic.

Understanding

The Real Zero campaign aims to build a clearer understanding of where and why leakage occurs and how to prevent it. In doing so, it highlights what those of us in the leak detection industry have known for some time – it’s not the big, one-off leaks that are the cost, it’s the substantial number of smaller ones.

The Institute has put together a list of thirteen points in a refrigeration system where leaks can occur: the shut-off and ball valves, the Schrader valves, flare joints, mechanical joints and flanges, pressure relief valves and fusible plugs, shaft seals, condensers, line tap valves, pressure switches, O rings, capillary tubes, return bends on evaporators and condensers and condensate tray pipework.

Now, some of these leaks are due to poor or unskilled maintenance, and these can be ironed out through ongoing training. But the vast majority come about simply due to routine wear and tear. On the plus side it means that engineers can be educated in spotting the signs and can repair or replace during routine maintenance visits. On the minus side, it means that if a part starts to fail a couple of days after the maintenance visit, it won’t be picked up until the next time.

Multi-point detection

So what can be done to reduce refrigerant leakage? The answer lies in fixed multipoint leak detection equipment. These systems are able to monitor each of the thirteen at-risk locations as well as any other specific points of a site’s refrigeration system that have been highlighted as leak hotspots. Providing 24-hour automatic logging, monitoring and alarming of refrigerant leaks, it is the equivalent of having an engineer permanently leak-checking every pressure point of your refrigeration system.

In the quest for energy efficiency, we tend to look for the biggest energy wasters. But we forget that lots of little problems create one big one. Leak detection stops the little problems stacking up and can help to make a £3m a year saving. It also provides the means by which we can reduce our emissions and contributeto creating a more environmentally responsible future.

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