ATLANTA — Bacharach has been in acquisition mode lately, and the company was showing off the new products and relationships that resulted from that at this year’s AHR Expo in Atlanta.

Last year, Bacharach, a provider of gas and refrigerant leak detection, combustion and emissions analysis instrumentation, energy management, and data analytics, acquired Neutronics Inc., a provider of refrigerant and gas analyzers. Neutronics’ technologies serve the automotive and commercial HVAC markets and provide high-purity oxygen analyzers to the semi-conductor industry and self-contained breathing units to the safety and rescue industry.

At the expo, Bacharach was displaying the MVR-300, which provides continuous refrigerant detection within occupied spaces. Typical applications include monitoring for potential leaks from high-volume HVACR systems in hotels, apartments, dormitories, hospitals, assisted living facilities, and office buildings. The MVR-300 is ideal for integration with VRF/VRV systems.

The monitor ensures the safety of occupants in addition to enhancing the effectiveness and energy efficiency of the HVAC system. It minimizes potential environmental impact from leaking gases and complies with regulations such as EN378:2016 and ASHRAE 15:2013. The MVR-300 identifies affected rooms and enables the HVAC system to isolate the leak so that other rooms remain unaffected while the risks of a refrigerant leak are mitigated.

“Although HVAC system leaks are not expected to be a common occurrence, they are a cause of higher operating costs, and in high-volume systems such as VRF/VRV, they can represent a safety risk and can cause facilities to lose revenue by being unable to use rooms affected by leaks, due to refrigerant levels, or because of the lack of fully functioning HVAC,” said Tom Burniston, product manager, Fixed Instrumentation. “The MVR-300 communicates the detection of a refrigerant leak by Modbus or relay contacts, and it can be integrated with HVAC control systems to automatically isolate a leak. This means the rest of the system can continue to operate normally so that other rooms can continue to be fully occupied and used. In addition, room occupants can be audibly and visibly alerted to the presence of leaking refrigerant, which, combined with leak isolation, is helpful to ensuring safety of those occupants.”

The MVR-300 is easily installed in a standard 2-gang electrical back box, so it sits flush to the wall. Its low-profile, neutral design blends into typical room décor, making the instrument unobtrusive. A range of communication options allow for alarms to be centralized into a BMS or other control system.

Bacharach also announced the release of a free educational guideline and checklist for refrigerant compliance. The checklist details make it easy to assist those responsible for refrigerant compliance in food retail. The guideline, called “EPA 608 Refrigerant Compliance Checklist and Guidelines” reflects on the evolving changes coming to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 608.

Compliance with evolving legislation can be demanding; those involved in food retail operations need to ensure product quality and employee and customer safety, all while reducing operating costs and improving equipment performance and operating margins.

“The purpose of the checklist is to help ensure that those responsible for refrigerant management are preparing now for the coming changes,” said Matt Collins, product marketing manager for Parasnese Ltd., a Bacharach company. “Food retail operation teams, facility managers, and equipment owners need to have this information all in one place. They need the details and enough time to ask questions and review the new requirements before implementing changes into their processes.”

Bacharach also showed its newest combustion and emissions analyzer, the PCA 400. The product is among “The Top 100 New Products” in the Technology Category as awarded by Construction Equipment Magazine. Bacharach received the award for the significant investment, work, and innovation in research and development regarding the PCA400.

Publication date: 2/18/2019

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