Riverford Organic Farm

RIVERFORD ORGANIC FARM – UK’S 1ST A2LSYSTEMATCH COLD ROOM INSTALLATION

Equipment: SMC+ 40 Condensing Unit with a MBMT130E Evaporator
Distributor Specified: Heronhill
Date Specified: July 2020

Our customer was Riverford organic farmers based in Devon. The company has a huge environmental and ethical ethos and strive for sustainability. They deliver 80 000 organic veg boxes each week across the country having grown 72% (on average) in the UK.

Refrigeration is a big part of their business, and having already invested in efficient compressors and re-using waste heat to save energy they were looking for a new innovation and environmentally friendly solution for their new cold room.

The project was for the new onsite catering / canteen facility which will cater for around 600 staff and will open in September 2020. It was clear that a requirement for a greener, more cost effective solution for a cold store application to house their own organically farmed produce was needed.

The contractor selected was Keep It Cool Refrigeration, who had worked with Riverford for some time to find an effective solution. They had considered options such as C02 but became aware of the new A2L systems that have been developed by the Marstair engineering team over the last year. The new A2LsysteMatch offers 93% reduction in GWP, is up to 3% more efficient than current Marstair units which are on the ETL list and can deliver up to 33% lower total cost of ownership. With these benefits in mind the A2LsysteMatch was the perfect solution for Riverford.

The system selected was a SMC40 Condensing unit with MBMT130E Evaporator match to fulfil the project specification as below

• Cooling requirement: 2.4kW cooling
• Conditions: 32°C external and 1°C internal
• Cold Room Size: 2.2m * 2.25m * 3.97m = 19.65m
• DSEAR free volume assessment: 6m
• Pipe run: 22.5m
• Pipe sizes: 1/2″ Expansion line -5/8″ suction line -Both lines to be insulated
• R454C Refrigerant charge requirement: 1.135kg
• Maximum refrigerant allowable R454C = 19.65 * 0.293 * 0.2 = 15kg
• A single phase motor rated16A fused supply

The installation was a great success with accurate figures for the refrigerant required, easy valve adjustment with the new digital screen, easy wiring and commissioning was no problem.

The value to Riverford is an environmentally friendly solution that fits with their company ethos and over a 20-year life cycle will save them 25% on total cost of ownership in comparison with CO2 and 28% energyemissions comparison with CO2.