For many years now, I’ve been meaning to put pen to paper about the practice of ‘topping up’, basically because it annoys and frustrates the hell out of me. I think it’s something that we all should be very concerned about.
As the term suggests, ‘topping up’ is the adding of refrigerant to a chiller which has a known leak, or in which the evaporator has become porous. To top up – without attempting to repair the leak – is not only illegal, but also has grave consequences for the environment.
A leak of just 1kg of R134A causes the same environmental damage as driving a van for 10,000 miles.
Vending machines are predominantly gassed on R134A, which is a Fluorocarbon. These Fluorocarbons, when released into the atmosphere directly, contribute to global warming. Every 1kg of carbon dioxide equals a GWP (global warming potential) of 1 per kg, whereas R134A has a GWP of 1300 per kg.
Let me put that into context: a leak of just 1kg of R134A causes the same environmental damage as driving a van for 10,000 miles.
If you don’t repair the leak or the dodgy evaporator, the chiller will need topping up continually, which may be convenient as a quick fix but in the long run, it’ll mean more engineer call outs, extended machine down time and lost stock.
At DGB Refrigeration, all repairs are done in our purpose-built factory, which enables us to pressure test chillers for leaks. We also have brand-new evaporators made for the units with a history of this problem, because once an evaporator has become porous it’s virtually impossible to fix it.
We pride ourselves on our unstinting efforts to identify leaks and repair them – and we offer a 12 months warranty on work carried out/ parts changed by DGB.
More importantly, we’re all well aware of our legal and moral obligations to the environment.
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