2019 RETA Breeze Jul-Aug

pump out truck has to be used to pump a section of the system out. Sometimes the truck that received the ammonia is contaminated. In these cases, a new charge has to be purchased while the old is removed and discarded/disposed of. You’ll actually find this question when filing the Form“R”. But the point is that ammonia losses are an inevitable part of an ammonia refrigeration system process, no matter how small the losses, they all add up.

Ok Vic, I see the requirement, but where’s the trap? Let’s say we have a food manufacturer who has a refrigeration system that contains 80,000 pounds of ammonia. That’s a good size system, but certainly not uncommon. In this system, the pressure vessels such as the High- Pressure Receiver and Recirculators have excess capacity and the system can afford to go a while without having to be topped off and before hitting the lower limit of operation per

their SOP’s. Also, as is very common in the industry, some companies hold off on purchasing ammonia until it is absolutely necessary. This is always met with having to explain losses over that same period between “top offs.” However, the trap is that you waited and now have to top the system off to replenish the losses that now exceeds 10,000 pounds to return you to your “normal operation levels,” and thus Form“R” now has to be submitted. Let’s not forget that this almost always happens in the heat of the summer when projects are in full swing and timelines are tight. During this time, it is not unusual for the refrigeration manager to have exhausted just about every known trick in the book for keeping a system running on what seems like a critical charge including exceeding the lower limits of operation per the system Operating Procedures. ARE THERE ANY LOOPHOLES TO THIS? In a PSM covered refrigeration system, inventory calculations and upper and lower limits of operation found within our Operating Procedures can help identify issues before we find ourselves operating beyond those upper and lower limits. Using this information, it is possible to track losses by routinely re-evaluating inventory calculations . If managed correctly, a plant can track losses with reasonable accuracy and proactively schedule loss replenishment when it is appropriate to do so. In doing so, the plant could effectively remain under the 10,000-pound threshold for filing a Form“R” on an annual basis. In addition, by monitoring losses more closely, it is possible to drive annual losses to an absolute minimum as you identify loss points and correct them.

RETA 2019 National Conference

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA OCTOBER 8 11, 2019

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