Feature
media in typical use until recently has usually been a damp
cloth or towel placed in a position to catch debris blown out of
the coil structure (often being draped over the back surface of
the coil structure).
Only in the last few years have these traditional, but rather
primitive, means to catch blown-off debris been replaced
by more scientifically designed dust containment devices.
An example is the CoilPod dust hood online. Such a dust
containment product, once placed over the clogged coil
structure, allows for even in-house store personnel to use
a source of compressed air and vacuum to do the cleaning
operation without creating a mess in the surrounding area. A
wet/dry vacuum with hoses on the exhaust and suction ports
will suffice.
The Optimisation data suggests that, on average, all of the
world's air conditioning and refrigeration units are currently
consuming about 25% more electricity than they should be
consuming because of clogged heat transfer coils, dirty filters,
and so on. This is equivalent to a 20% average energy savings
from doing better cleaning and servicing. Nobody's focused on
this topic as far as we can tell.
A study by The Carbon Trust was commissioned by after
we alerted him to some fragmentary data we had found on
badly fouled commercial refrigeration units from an actual
field survey where the level of unneeded energy waste was
2 000 to 5 700 KwH/unit, the average being 3 500 KwH/unit/
year. These units were consuming 83% to 100% more energy
than they should have been consuming. When the condenser
coils were cleaned, the energy savings was from 46% to 50%
for all four, the average being 47%. [These data allowed us
to calculate average energy waste due to clogged condenser
coils for a commercial refrigeration unit at ~1250 KwH/unit/
year. A residential unit we guesstimate at 280 KwH/unit/year].
Although the data is available, electric utilities we’ve shared
this information with are hostile to the information.
I hope that this article may shine some light on this largely
ignored, but necessary, cleaning practice and its multiple
advantages. Admittedly, it requires a work commitment, but
we think it is worth the effort. RACA
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Richard P. Fennelly is the chief operating office at CoilPod
– a manufacturer of the COILPOD dust containment bag
for self-contained condenser coil cleaning in commercial
refrigeration units. Fennelly has a BSc in Chemistry with
more than 12 years of experience in product development.
HUMOUR
GOLDBERG LEGENDS
T
he four Goldberg brothers, Lowell, Norman, Hiram,
and Max invented and developed the first automobile
air-conditioner. On July 17, 1946, the temperature in Detroit
was 97 degrees.
The four brothers walked into old man Henry Ford's office
and sweet-talked his secretary into telling him that four
gentlemen were there with the most exciting innovation in
the auto industry since the electric starter.
Henry was curious and invited them into his office. They
refused and instead asked that he come out to the parking
lot to their car. They persuaded him to get into the car, which
was about 130 degrees, turned on the air conditioner, and
cooled the car off immediately.
www.hvacronline.co.za
The old man got very excited and invited them back to
the office, where he offered them USD3-million for the
patent.
The brothers refused, saying they would settle for USD2-
million, but they wanted the recognition by having a label,
'The Goldberg Air-Conditioner', on the dashboard of each car
in which it was installed.
Now there was no way old man Ford was going to put the
Goldberg's name on two million Fords. They haggled back
and forth for about two hours and finally agreed on USD4-
million and that just their first names would be shown.
And so, to this day, all Ford air conditioners show –
Lo, Norm, Hi, and Max – on the controls. RACA
RACA Journal I May 2020
39