Commercial Refrigeration

Client

Mercer Mushrooms

Location

Waikato

Category

Commercial Refrigeration

Scope

Complete refurbishment of the vacuum chamber

System Type

Vacuum chiller

System Capacity

Key Detail

Short turnaround time to maintain continuity of production schedules

Industry

Food processing

Vacuum Chiller Refurbishment

Our team was engaged to bring an obsolete vacuum cooling system back into operation within an extremely tight timeframe to minimise disruption to production.
The project involved completely stripping the vacuum chamber, removing the existing evaporator coil, repairing multiple refrigerant leaks, and pressure testing the original R22 coil to confirm its integrity. Due to the vacuum chamber requiring an airtight seal, space constraints prevented the use of electronic expansion valves, so the system was redesigned using a mechanical control solution. As part of the recommissioning, the system was converted from R22 to R407F refrigerant, and a readily available 30 kW refrigeration pack was selected to meet the demanding project schedule.
From initial works through to installation and commissioning, the entire project was successfully completed within just two weeks, allowing the client to quickly restore production.
This installation serves as a temporary solution while we design and construct two new vacuum cooling chambers. The new systems will transition away from direct expansion (DX) refrigeration and instead utilise a glycol-based cooling system, providing improved efficiency, greater reliability, and the added benefit of serving the adjacent chiller rooms.