Recent Blog Posts

Mechanical Integrity 101 | Ceiling Suspended Air-Cooling Evaporators

July 1st, 2013

When performing a mechanical integrity inspection of a ceiling suspended air-cooling evaporator, it is vital that the nuts and washers which are used to attach the unit to it’s support are sufficiently tight. All-to-often we find nuts that have loosened due to vibration or missing washers. A ceiling suspended evaporator is designed to be supported […]

Q&A | OSHA Violations

May 23rd, 2013

Question: What is the most common OSHA citation? Answer: The International Institute of Ammonia Refrigeration publishes the Condenser each quarter. The May 2013 addressed this exact question in the IIAR Government Relations article on page 14. According to the article, from 2009 through 2012 the most cited OSHA standards were: Hazard Communication Electrical, Wiring Methods Lockout/Tagout […]

Mechanical Integrity 101 | Inspection of Cold Storage Bunkers

April 29th, 2013

In the fresh fruit and vegetable industry in Central California, it is very common for facilities to use bunker-mounted air-cooling evaporators. A typical installation of a bunker-mounted evaporator can been seen in the schematic below: Performing a mechanical integrity inspection of a bunker-mounted evaporator requires many of the same inspection protocols that any air-cooled evaporator […]

Mechanical Integrity 101 | Emergency Refrigerant Control Boxes

February 19th, 2013

Although Emergency Control Boxes (ECB) are no longer required by the current Fire Codes, most systems across the country are still equipped with an ECB that must be maintained and inspected during a mechanical integrity inspection. So what should an inspector look for when inspecting an ECB? Here are a few points to consider… The […]

Politically Correct Ammonia Valve Labeling

January 31st, 2013

I saw this “politically correct” valve label during a recent mechanical integrity inspection and thought it was pretty funny and worth sharing.