Processing Facility Turns to Refrigerant Leak Detection

Using Parasense’s GRM2 refrigerant leak detector, Winterwood Farm, the world’s largest dedicated soft fruit processing facility, cut the cost of refrigeration. Here’s how:

Refrigeration Costs Add Up Quickly for Winterwood Farm

Winterwood Farm, located in Maidstone, Kent, operates the world’s largest dedicated soft fruit processing facility, handling 20 million kilos of soft fruit each year and distributing 60 million packs to supermarkets.

It’s no surprise then that refrigeration is a crucial part of their operations; In fact, the entire facility is temperature controlled, including arrivals, storage, processing and dispatch. Moreover, the chillers are supplied by four separate refrigeration packs, using R-404A refrigerant, which has a GWP of 3922.

When the refrigeration equipment was first installed, a leak detection system had been put in place to monitor just the plant room. However, it proved unable to protect them when two very costly gas leaks occurred—ultimately tracked back to fittings in overhead gantries.

Thus, the old leak detection system was suffering from reliability problems, including false alarms, which meant engineers were being dispatched at all hours of the day, resulting in high call out costs.

The cost of repairs and spare parts for the old leak detection system were mounting, so they decided to invest in a more dependable solution. On the basis of many years’ experience, their refrigeration specialists, Freshcold, recommended Parasense.

Due to Unreliability and Cost of Repairs, Winterwood Farm Turns to a More Dependable Solution: Parasense

Parasense supplied and installed an eight-channel GRM2 infrared refrigerant leak with infrared absorption technology, providing air sampling at key points around the four refrigeration packs, receiver sets and pressure relief lines, as well as along central pipework in overhead gantries.

To fit around the seven-day-a-week operations at Winterwood Farm, the Parasense team had to plan carefully and follow working practices that were appropriate for the food production environment.

Now There’s Dependable Detection and Lower Refrigeration Costs

By installing a Parasense refrigerant leak detection system, the directors at Winterwood Farm are now confident that no leaks are going undetected, so the previous high costs of R-404A top-ups are avoided.

Furthermore, they—and their supermarket customers—know they are minimizing their greenhouse gas emissions from refrigerant leaks. At the same time, refrigeration contractor Freshcold is able to pass on the savings from greatly reduced callouts, while giving their client the assurance that their engineers can respond faster to any serious leaks. ∎