DESIGN ALERT ON CONV ERSION OF CHILLERS
TO THE NEW CFC-FREE ALTERNATIVE REFRIGERANTS
ISSUE:
Bid protest on conversion of chillers by the VA medical centers.
BACKGROUND:
VA medical centers have started converting their chillers to use new ozone friendly
refrigerants and phase out old ozone depleting refrigerants as the old refrigerants will go
out of production by January, 1996, as required by Clean Air Act. After January, 1996,
the old refrigerants will be available through recovery, recycling and reclamation, and
the prices of these refrigerants are expected to climb. On the other hand chiller
conversion is expensive. An evaluation process (economic decision) is required
categorizing chillers relative to their age, efficiencies, service and maintenance, and
expense etc. or conversion.
In one case where a VA medical center put out a bid request for conversion based on
engineered conversion by the original manufacturer, a contractor lodged a protest with
GAO alleging use of restricted (proprietary) requirements. He further alleged that he
h
could save a substantial amount of money to the Government if he was allowed to use
is own engineered conversion rather than engineered conversion specified by the
original manufacturer of chillers. The original manufacturer is in the process of
acquiring a trade mark for its engineered conversion process.
RECOMMENDATIONS/CONCLUSION:
1. Chillers which are 2 10 years old are typically good candidates for conversions
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because of their remaining useful life. Chillers between the age of 10-20 are the most
difficult to decide whether to convert or not for cost reasons which can be 25-40% of
the cost of the chiller. Chillers which are 20 years old and above are frequently good
candidates for replacement.
2. The original chiller manufacturers from their records (which are restricted) can
determine the original performance characteristics and can predict the future
performance for capacity and efficiency based on use of new refrigerants and current
operating conditions by using computer modeling program for a small fee. They also
provide various options on chiller performance and cost of conversions. This is a very
useful information for making decision on conversion as well as specifying the data for
a competitive bid. A word of caution, the original manufacturers do not guarantee new
performance figures, however, for a competitive bid and quality control a tolerance of 1-
2% can be specified to the predicted figures provided by the original manufacturer.
18 November 1994
FM-187C-DA19
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