RACA Journal April 2023 | Page 32

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© Benjamin Brits | RACA Journal power saving for the end user . They ’ ll pay more from the start but get their money back from power savings throughout the life of the system . Unfortunately , it is often about the CapEx rather than OpEx , and the mechanical engineer designs the system according to the client ’ s budget and it is the price of the system that ultimately determines which solution they go for .
“ However , when a building is aiming for green star rating certification from the Green Building Council SA ( GBCSA ) they will certainly budget for PICVs in order to get the energy savings and the points . As green buildings are being pushed quite extensively , we are seeing an increasing adoption rate already for the past 10 years . However , there are still plenty developers who are not worried about their client ’ s energy usage because of the upfront cost ,” adds Hofmann .
Adrian
Hofmann , Technical Sales and Support at ACS at Frigair .
GAUGES : ANALOGUE HOLDS ITS OWN FOR NOW SA Gauge quality manager Riaan Reinach , says : “ There ’ s a trend to standardise on gauges , and at the moment everybody ' s still trying to figure out what needs to be made on the pressure side of the systems . There are currently probably 20 or 30 different types of configurations and I expect this to standardise down to between four and six gauges . If new refrigerants enter the market

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RACA Journal I April 2023 www . refrigerationandaircon . co . za