• James Ferge speaks during the 2015 Refrigeration Roundtable. He spoke for many of his peers when he said contractors are good at rolling with the changes.
    James Ferge speaks during the 2015 Refrigeration Roundtable. He spoke for many of his peers when he said contractors are good at rolling with the changes.
    James Ferge speaks during the 2015 Refrigeration Roundtable. He spoke for many of his peers when he said contractors are good at rolling with the changes.
    James Ferge speaks during the 2015 Refrigeration Roundtable. He spoke for many of his peers when he said contractors are good at rolling with the changes.
    James Ferge speaks during the 2015 Refrigeration Roundtable. He spoke for many of his peers when he said contractors are good at rolling with the changes.

    Refrigerants: In With the New

    Dec. 9, 2015
    The discussion verged beyond performance characteristics of new refrigerants, into areas related to much-needed refrigerant education.

    ContractingBusiness.com convened its fifth Refrigeration Roundtable summit during the successful Comfortech 2015 show in St. Louis, Sept. 15-17. During this one-day, closed meeting, experts from supermarkets, commercial refrigeration contracting firms and vendors met for relaxed but focused discussion on today’s most important refrigeration issues.

    We are probably going to start seeing a little more ammonia in supermarket areas,” Ferge said. “I think the major change that the supermarkets will have is more viability on new designs. Locally, independents are going to try to survive as much as they can, and contractors have to try to soften the blow, and use those refrigerants that are working for us."

    James Ferge, founder and president of Samsun Mechanical, Indianapolis, Ind., views these changes as part of the business.

    “With any refrigerant, any POE oils, we also have some sort of engineering design issues, just like the ‘metal waxing’ we have had in the past with POE oils. I look at it as, we have change every day, and we cope with it.

    “We are probably going to start seeing a little more ammonia in supermarket areas,” Ferge said. “I think the major change that the supermarkets will have is more viability on new designs. Locally, independents are going to try to survive as much as they can, and contractors have to try to soften the blow, and use those refrigerants that are working for us.

    “The old R22 systems need to go away. There are more failures in those older systems; it’s time.”

    But, Ferge cautioned that it will be a challenge for smaller stores, but they too will have to adapt.

    “The small independents often follow the lead of the chain stores. They look at their suppliers and vendors, how they’re going to use that case, how much they can sell out of it, and what profit it will bring. And, they want the customers to return to their stores. So, the only  thing they can sell is good rapport with their customers. They want them to come in and buy something, and feel as if they got a good value,” he said.

    OEMs have to go into ‘the hinterlands,’ those remote regions, because the way the regulatory environment is changing, it’s going to force us as OEMs to become more aggressive in teaching, as opposed to promoting products. That’s because we’ll end up with a stream of products that meet regulations, but there will be nobody out there that knows how to install it or service it.”
    — Michael Lehtinen, Heatcraft

    “In order to keep my clients, I have to show those clients that we’re here to take care of them, with guaranteed management methods set in place that are value added with a good return on investment.  But any time you change a refrigerant in a system, it’s kind of like ‘Pandora’s box,’” Ferge added.

    Pointer said smaller stores in remote, rural areas will have, and in fact have always found it challenging to obtain service expertise, due to their long distance from the more experienced contracting firms.

    “The smaller stores in the ‘hinterlands’ face a challenge, because the contractors who are in larger metropolitan areas and who have better access to factory training, are not close to those small stores,” Pointer said.

    “The problem is getting worse,” he he said, “now that we’re going to higher glide refrigerants, and CO2. CO2 is here to stay. There’s a customer demand for it. It’s sustainable and all natural. But if you put a CO2 system in a store in Licking, West Virginia, who’s going to service it? It’s a problem.”

    In response, Michael Lethtinen of Heatcraft said with all these changes and expectations, education must begin to travel far and wide.
    “One of the things that will drive change, especially by the original equipment manufacturers, is the importance of getting knowledge into those rural areas,” Lehtinen said.

    “OEMs have to go into ‘the hinterlands,’ those remote regions, because the way the regulatory environment is changing, it’s going to force us as OEMs to become more aggressive in teaching, as opposed to promoting products. That’s because we’ll end up with a stream of products that meet regulations, but there will be nobody out there that knows how to install it or service it.”

    Lehtinen added that the faster pace of change is quite different from the days when change was more manageable.

    “In the past, people had a significant amount of time to adapt. So, as we see the pace of regulations pick up, I think, the importance of proactive education has become more important. Because, the reality is we can’t rely on the traditional ‘osmosis’ of knowledge to reach through the market,” he said.
    “As these regulations come online, and new technologies are developed, we as manufacturers actively must push education into the field in very new and different ways,” he continued, and said “a new era of education” has arrived.

    Lehtinen pointed to the logistical problems associated with the old model of having one company trainer trying to visit contractors over the entire country.
    “We, as manufacturers, have to very aggressively look at the ways we release and provide education in a more innovative manner,” he said.  

    PART 2 OF THIS FOUR-PART SERIES WILL APPEAR IN FEBRUARY