Absolute Zero Refrigeration, Auckland – Success Story
‘Every 6 months we get good results returned back, so we’ve just kept going in the same system.’
We catch up with Re-Juan from Absolute Zero Refrigeration to tell us about the proven results they’re getting from REFLO refrigeration compressor oil.
Tell us a bit about Absolute Zero Refrigeration…
Absolute Zero Refrigeration has been going since 2016. I’ve been in the industry for roughly about 14 years. We try to operate in the large commercial and industrial sector. Even for a small team of 4 at the moment and looking to grow, we certainly pack a punch. We’ve got experience from supermarket work, under bench chillers and air-conditioning HVAC as well, but we certainly prefer the larger stuff.
We operate in the greater Auckland area, we’ll go on site all the way down to Hamilton and occasionally beyond, we’ll travel out of town.
Re-Juan Kruis, Director
Can you tell us about the job you are working on?
So we’ve just got a compressor that’s been pulled out for overhaul after operating for about 50,000 hours. It’s actually slightly overdue. So it’s a full strip down bearing replacement and every component will be measured and made sure that everything is still within specifications.
It’s a good time for us to change the oil as well. Put a fresh charge in there and get it back together and back in operation.
When did you start using REFLO?
The first introduction with REFLO was in the start of 2016 when this plant got commissioned and we’ve been using it in the system ever since. We’ve managed to keep the majority of the original charge in there due to regular testing. Then we’d get our oil analysis back and generally you wouldn’t stretch them out that far but with everything testing fine and no early warnings or anything of the oil breaking down or oxidising popping up, we decided to see how far it can go. And every 6 months we get good results returned back, so we’ve just kept going in the same system.
Generally it would be about 25,000 hours before an inspection. Some of our manufacturer recommendations for the application that this one’s working in will be about 40. So we’ve pushed it out a little bit further. Just by monitoring the system, regular vibration analysis, thermal imaging, oil sampling as well, and we’ve been comfortable pushing it a little bit further.
As you can see, this has just had a quick little rub up. This is the old side bearing that has come out. And the general condition of that for the hours that the machine’s done is phenomenal.
With relying on oil pressure to keep a certain gap between your bearings and your journals on your rotors, if any of these bearings had to fail or you had a lubrication issue, or any other mechanical failure it’s best to pull it apart and basically do a more preventative approach rather than something failing or a rotor driving into the thrust part of the plate. Once you have a major mechanical failure on something like this you’re up for a new machine, when it can be prevented. Luckily this one is quite nice inside.
Pulling this compressor at this time, now, we believe we caught it early before it fails prematurely.
What other compressor fluids have you tried?
Other products we use apart from the REFLO is the CAMCO product, the POE oil. We’ve done a couple of conversions on some of our old equipment across a few sites. And the product so far has been excellent.
Why do you recommend REFLO for refrigeration compressors?
We would recommend REFLO oil just by our experience with it. The oil’s been a good product, and along with that Duramach’s (now Euromarc) a brilliant company to deal with. We send off a email or sometimes even a text to Clayton, we get a response, provide a delivery address, and our products get delivered on time.
