Foodservice suppliers transitioning refrigerator lines to R290

True Food Service Equipment, which has led the foodservice industry in developing refrigerators and freezers using propane as the refrigerant, once again emphasised its propane equipment at the NRA Show, which ran from 21 May until today at Chicago’s McCormick Place.

On 21 May at True’s large NRA Show booth, Kirsten Hesla, product manager for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, presented Steve Trulaske, owner of True, with the EPA’s 2016 Energy Star Emerging Technology Award in the residential/commercial refrigeration category for 42 of the company’s propane units.

True’s award-winning models all met the EPA requirements of being at least 5% more efficient than predecessor units and using a refrigerant with a GWP of 15 or below. In fact, the True units are on average 25%-30% more efficient than the models they replaced, which used HFCs, noted company representative Todd Washburn.

But True – which offers more than 150 R290 units in all – was far from alone in highlighting hydrocarbon refrigeration. For example, Beverage-Air, a division of Ali Group North America, is “converting its full [commercial refrigeration] product line to use R290, if possible,” said Bill Siskar, vice-president of manufacturing and engineering for the Ali Group’s Refrigeration Division. Only large freezer units that need more than the 150g limit for propane are not being converted.

“By the end of the year, we’re going to have everything R290,” he said. He cited customer demand and the pressure of regulations from the Department of Energy and the EPA for the change. The DOE is ramping up its energy efficiency requirements by 30% to 50% for foodservice refrigeration as of 2017, while the EPA will delist major HFCs starting in 2019.

The Delfield Company, a division of Manitowoc, will be converting its upright reach-in and under-counter commercial refrigeration units to R290 by the end of 2016, and phasing out R404A, said Tim Wilczak, senior product manager for Delfield, at the Manitowoc booth. “It seems like hydrocarbons will be the refrigerant of choice for self-contained, mobile equipment.”

Since February 2016, about 80% of Traulsen’s line of one- and two-section reach-ins and compact under-counter refrigeration units have been available with R290 refrigerant, said Laura Gutkowski, sales development manager. “The large global restaurant chains are concerned about their environmental footprint,” she said, adding that “every element of the hydrocarbon units has been tweaked” to improve their efficiency.

Traulsen now has 308 models using R290, said Helith Sofer, director of marketing. But the company is still selling equipment with R134a and R404A “until further notice,” she added.

Liebherr USA, whose parent company has sold R290 foodservice units is Germany for many years, is bringing them to the U.S. market for the first time this year, said Josef Steigmiller, divisional director, refrigerators and freezers division.

This article was authored by Michael Garry.