Hussmann's New Approach to Refrigerant Management
Refrigeration plays a crucial role in the food retail industry, but traditional leak detection methods often lead to continuous refrigerant leaks, increased costs and higher carbon emissions. Hussmann is addressing this challenge head-on with StoreConnect, a cloud-based platform that leverages real-time data analytics to assess refrigeration system performance. The Advanced Refrigerant Leak Detection product uses enriched data to identify leaks that traditional equipment would not detect unless it was a catastrophic event. According to the EPA, the average supermarket leaks 875 pounds of R-404A refrigerant per year — the equivalent of emissions from 339 cars.
“One of our challenges at Hussmann is managing customers’ refrigeration assets,” shares Bryan Ware, Director, Services Business Development at Hussmann. “Many customers rely on older technology to detect major refrigerant leak events, leading to a ‘break-fix’ maintenance approach. This contributes to higher leak rates and additional cost. An effective approach to lowering emissions rates and operational cost is to implement StoreConnect's early leak detection tools for customers with service agreements.”
Recognizing the urgency of this issue, Hussmann began implementing StoreConnect in 2022 across several customer sites. The platform’s Advanced Refrigerant Leak Detection technology provided near real-time data, allowing technicians to proactively address leaks before they became critical. “We have seen overall leak reduction percentages in the double digits, faster detection of leaks, a shift in culture from reactive to proactive refrigerant management and an overall better customer experience,” says Bryan.
