Fridge/freezers

[marc5180]

At the moment the company that i work for deal with Air Con ( splits, multis, vrvs etc) and chillers but i mentioned to my boss that i would like to get more involved with fridges and freezers as iv heard thats where the money can be made. Hes going to start looking for contracts starting small but if all goes well then hopefully leading towards supermarkets.
My question is what things would be different on a fridge/freezer than a normal split unit?.

How do you perform maintenance on them?

Iv seen a few fridges but iv noticed that they are normally sealed systems. Do you guys use the line taps when you have to break in to a system or is there a better way to do it?
Any answers would be appreciated
Cheers guys

[Brian_UK]

Personally I don't like small fridges etc, if it is hermetically sealed then leave it that way and let someone else play with it.

Remember, if you fit a line tap then unless you braze it up afterwards you've made hole in the system. Unless the process line is long enough to reuse.

Larger commercial fridges etc are a more interesting and workable item as with cold room or freezer stores.

[Pooh]

Marc
there is a better way to deal with fridges and freezers dont go near them, they are more hassle than they are worth leave them to the washing machine mechanics and get involved with proper fridge if you want to get away from AC. Get some ammonia in your system that will sort you out and make you some decent money without working 24/7.

Ian

[paul_h]

If you're a successful air con business, don't worry about domestics (fridges without schrader valves). Their breakdowns are more electrical anyway.
If you are interested in refrigeration and want to go into supermarkets, but start small, start with cafe and deli fridges (they all have proper compressors, fans, schrader or kirby fittings on them for SP). Then try some coolroom and freezer rooms in restaurants.
The difference in them? You know what would happen in a split if you tried to set them to cool and 16C 24/7? Yeah, icing up due to design and lack of defrost.
Most of refrig problems are going to be refrigerant leaks, compressor burnouts, capacitor or relay failures, fan motor failures, bad design/install. So same old same old, except now you'll be looking after some sort of defrost system (good design - ie cyclic defrost, electric, hot gas) and CPR, EPR, solenoids etc.
You'l have to become best buddies with the controller they use, carel, dixell, LAE, phasephale etc. Get mauals that tell you have to prgrams their parameters (defrost time, max defrost temp, defrost interval etc etc)
You won't see more complicated systems in the the local cafe/restuarant/deli until you get into the racks that bigger places have.
Maintenance is the same, check pressures and temps, clean coils, check electrical (amps, terminals), clean drains.

[marc5180]

Thanks for all your input guys. We have a big contract at the minute with a big restaurant chain all over the Uk and we look after all of their heating ventilation and AC plant but not their fridges. My boss is having a meeting with one of the guys from the restaurant company to discuss the possibility of us taking on the refrigeration side as well. Im sure it wouldnt do me any harm to learn a bit more on the fridge side, all in all it can only make me a better engineer.

[Brian_UK]

Marc, I don't know whether you already make use of it but the Sporlan site is a wealth of information.

I have learnt a lot from there when I have come across items of plant that were new to me.

http://www.sporlan.com

[marc5180]

Marc, I don't know whether you already make use of it but the Sporlan site is a wealth of information.

I have learnt a lot from there when I have come across items of plant that were new to me.

http://www.sporlan.com

Thanks for the link Brian, il have a good read through tonight when i get home from work.