The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) 2020 Walk-in Cooler and Freezer (WICF) Annual Walk-in Energy Factor (AWEF) regulation is the first comprehensive energy efficiency regulation in the commercial refrigeration industry. Heatcraft Refrigeration Products, manufacturer of trusted brands Bohn, Larkin, Climate Control and Chandler, was at the forefront of representing its customers and the industry during the regulatory process and has invested heavily in new test lab capability to develop compliant products. The company has created industry leading tools like the Heatcraft regulatory blog, Cross-Reference web-tool and App to help with its customers’ transition.
A key element of the DOE regulation is a “net capacity” representation which requires testing to a specific method (AHRI 1250) to determine the capacity rating of an evaporator. The resultant net capacity will be certified and published in the DOE Certification Compliance database (CCMS). The certified net capacity value is required by DOE and is the recommended method of comparing the capacity of like-to-like units across manufacturers. The DOE database can be found at:
www.regulations.doe.gov/certification-data.
Manufacturers may also use other test conditions (e.g. 10°F TD, 25°F SST and 80% RH) to represent unit capacities at other application conditions. Historically, the commercial refrigeration industry represented capacity values in various ways with no clear uniformity when characterizing actual performance. To make the published values more useful to customers for selection purposes, Heatcraft is committed to publishing selection capacity values that align with the as-tested or simulated results at the stated condition, published with the same level of accuracy called for in the DOE regulation. This approach allows end users to more accurately understand the performance of their refrigeration systems. Heatcraft encourages all manufacturers to follow this approach, which provides a consistent and more practical industry approach that serves its customers’ best interest.
The above approach will likely lead to the new capacity values being lower than previously published values. For end users, OEMs and wholesalers, it is critical to note that the published values will now represent the capacity that the unit is expected to achieve at the published test conditions and design engineers should adjust their approach accordingly. In replacement situations, the simple rule is that if a coil achieved the needed performance in the past, the new equivalent coil will provide similar performance. Heatcraft has several cross-reference tools and THE HUB available to assist in such cases.
Heatcraft is presently working with AHRI and other commercial refrigeration manufacturers to establish guidance on procedures to test and publish the application selection capacity values described above.
Heatcraft invites customers to learn more about this improved approach and how it will benefit them at
www.heatcraftrpd.com/netcapacity. Heatcraft takes pride in having the most capable customer service and sales teams in the industry and are always available to help customers through this transition.
