Krinos Foods, Inc.

The Customer: Krinos Foods, Inc.

Krinos Foods, Inc. is the largest importer, distributor and manufacturer of Greek specialty foods in North America, with plants in New York, Chicago, Montreal and Toronto. Krinos sells a variety of Mediterranean foods including cheeses, olives, olive oils, pasta and confectionery for retail and food service trades. These delicacies are stored in almost 10 million cubic feet of dry storage and over two million cubic feet of refrigerated warehouse space. A state-of-the-art dairy facility in Long Island City processes over 250,000 gallons of milk every week, while a Toronto facility produces over 900 pounds of dough per hour.

Handling such a large volume of food products profitably requires keeping them properly cooled to avoid spoilage. Controlling the cost of refrigeration directly impacts the bottom line.

Air Comfort, a full-service HVAC dealer in New York, showed them how they could conserve electricity, save money and continue to meet their high standards for product quality.

The Challenge:

Air Comfort recommended a pilot test focusing on the three (3) refrigeration units servicing one (1) particular Walk-in Box at the company headquarters. An IntelliCon®-RU control was installed on the Krack, rooftop refrigeration units serving Walk-in Box #3.

Facility: Refrigerated Warehouse.

Location: Long Island City, New York.

The Products Used:

IntelliCon-RU - Commercial Refrigeration Electrical Economizer

A single IntelliCon-RU was installed on the three Krack rooftop refrigeration units servicing refrigerated Walk-in Box #3.

All three (3) units were operated around the clock at the headquarters warehouse facility for the 37-day test period during May/June.

Interestingly, it was discovered that two (2) of the three (3) units were consuming significant levels of electricity, but not contributing to the cooling of Walk-in Box #3. The test then focused on the contribution of the remaining unit that was performing all of the cooling for the walk-in box.

The Results:

Energy Savings: The IntelliCon control provided tangible energy savings, with no statistical difference in the maintained temperatures in the walk-in box. Furthermore, the test itself led to corrective action on the remaining Krack units that went undiscovered until the IntelliCon control was introduced into the system.

Payback Period:

Conservatively, Krinos expected overall payback period is less than 12 months, based strictly on energy cost savings alone, using an energy cost of $.10 per KWH. The likely payback period will be shorter when including savings derived from reduced “Peak Electrical Demand Charges” and lower maintenance costs.