Refrigeration Coil Cleaning by CoilPod
Pitch
Refrigeration units often run with clogged condenser coils. Keeping those coils clean will save electric energy now being wasted.
Description
Summary
Frequent cleaning of the condenser coils of refrigeration units, both residential and non-residential, will allow those appliances to run with better energy efficiency. For residential units it is largely a do it yourself activity that might save 280 KwH yearly for each of the 165 million estimated units in the US. For commercial and institutional units, estimated at 27 million units, the cleanings can be done with compressed air and vacuum using our COILPOD dust hood in many cases. The savings are estimated at 1250 KwH/unit/year.
Is this proposal for a practice or a project?
Practice
What actions do you propose?
For the residential sector an educational initiative conducted by utilities and their energy efficiency partner companies could be undertaken to incentivize homeowners to do coil cleanings, as needed, to insure their refrigeration units are running with clean coils. For the commercial and institutional sectors, we envision a partnership between the utilities, their energy efficiency partners, and us at CoilPod LLC to directly approach the owners of these non-residential units to implement coil cleaning efforts across their organizations.
Who will take these actions?
As stated above, a direct outreach to non-residential owners of refrigeration is envisioned. The utilities should incentivize the effort with rebates. For owners wishing to do the coil cleanings themselves, the rebate will attach to their purchase of our unique COILPOD dust hood. If an outside service agent is uses to do the cleanings, the rebate will defer a portion of their service charge. Coilpod LLC will be available as a licensor of its trademarks, patents and know how to such third party service agent to assist in market penetration for the coil cleaning technology.
Where will these actions be taken?
The coil cleaning operation is capable of being practiced worldwide. Worldwide, there are an estimated 1.5 billion residential units running and about 90 million non-residential units. One HVACR expert stated his belief that 80% of the owners never do coil cleaning and that the remaining 20% do it too infrequently. This indicates a massive need for refrigeration condenser coil cleaning.
In addition, specify the country or countries where these actions will be taken.
United States
Country 2
Canada
Country 3
Mexico
Country 4
United Kingdom
Country 5
Australia
Impact/Benefits
What impact will these actions have on greenhouse gas emissions and/or adapting to climate change?
We believe that the yearly electric savings worldwide at full market penetration could be: 1.5 billion units x 280 KwH/unit (residential sector) plus 90 million units × 1250 KwH/unit (non-residential sectors ).
What are other key benefits?
With refrigeration units being ubiquitous in all sorts of building settings, businesses, individuals, cities, regions and states can each claim their respective energy savings benefits based on the number of units served in their particular locale. Besides electric energy savings, coil cleaning confers equipment operational benefits which will save money by reducing emergency service calls, protecting sensitive inventory and prolonging the life of the cleaned equipment.
Costs/Challenges
What are the proposal’s projected costs?
For an individual owner wishing to do the cleanings themselves, we estimate the initial cost at $US89 per CoilPod dust hood purchased plus, possibly, the cost of a wet/dry vacuum and two hoses. If third party servicing is desired for commercial or institutional units, the cost for 3 cleanings per year might equal $150 per unit (apart from any utility rebatrs) as compared to savings of about $200 plus insurance against emergency service calls and inventory loss which can be much higher than the savings.
Timeline
This coil cleaning technology is capable of immediate deployment and will have short term impact as long as utilities create incentives.
About the author(s)
Richard Fennelly is COO of CoilPod LLC residing in the USA. He is a retired patent attorney.
Related Proposals
None
References
The COILPOD technology is a best practice cleaning method according to the Professional Retail Store Maintenance (PRSM) Association.
By:
CoilPod
