Parker Sporlan aims to make life easier for contractors through its latest offerings, which includes a rugged carrying case, off-the-shelf valves, and a simple-to-use board for refrigeration control.
One new item debuted at the AHR Expo is an expansion valve that contractors can buy at their local supply house.
“This gives the contractor the capability to change that valve out when it needs to be replaced,” said Dave Thomas, national sales manager at Parker Sporlan. “Now he doesn’t have to wait to get the replacement from the OEM. He can take it off the wholesale shelf.”
The company was a finalist for the AHR Innovation Award in the refrigeration category for its SCS-PB Superheat Control System for Pulse Width Valve. Thomas said a contractor can install the board, add an electric expansion valve, hook up the sensors, set the superheat with an app, and then let it run. The device has the intelligence to adapt as it needs to.
“You don’t want it be high-tech where you have to do a lot of programming and set controls,” Thomas said. “You want it as simple as possible.”
The system provides the capability to troubleshoot with Parker Sporlan’s tech app via a Bluetooth connection.
“You’re simplifying not just the installation, but repair and troubleshooting later,” Thomas said.
A key driver of innovation for the company is the changes occurring with refrigeration types. Parker Sporlan is seeing more demand for electric expansion valves due to the changes coming with the types of refrigerant being used. It’s refrigerant independent. The control tells it what type is in the system, and it can function with all of them.
Parker Sporlan debuted a new valve for refrigeration called the NX valve, geared at retail and food service, that complements its FX series valve for unitary residential or light commercial. Both have small bodies, which keeps the cost low, while maintaining the adaptability of previous valves. Those valves had elements contractors would change out. These new valves are fixed.
“We took as much brass out of the body as we possibly could while still keeping the integrity,” Thomas said.
Parker Sporlan still has the other valves available with the removable elements.
Not everything is getting smaller. Parker Sporlan now offers a large modulating three-way valve with a reheat condenser and a regular condenser.
Another new offering for contractors is a case to carry all these valves. Company staff interviewed different contractors to see what they would like. They responded that they wanted Parker Sporlan to beef up the carrying case. The new case is more durable and provides more flexibility to add more product to the case.
“The previous case was limited in the number of valves it could hold,” he said “Also, when you’re using it and opening it all the time, you need something that’s more durable.”
Opening and closing creates the normal wear and tear. A worse-case scenario is dropping the case off the roof of a building. The new case can take a fall.
One of Parker Sporlan’s most popular lines remains the ZoomLock brand. These refrigerant fittings press together so they save time because contractors don’t have to blow nitrogen or bring out a brazing torch tip. This also means they aren’t bringing heat to an environment that may be risky, and they don’t have to get a fire permit. The fitting stand up to 700 pounds and work with just about every refrigerant.
“We have to constantly think about refrigerants because the reality is that more and more refrigerants are coming to market,” Thomas said. “We‘re not promoting one refrigerant over the other. We just have to make sure our components are compatible with all those refrigerants.”
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