![](\"https:\/\/ebmpapst-7237.kxcdn.com\/en\/files\/2023\/03\/Christoph-Hammel-Skadec-Propan-500x660-1.jpg\")
Initially, we produced water chillers exclu\u00adsively for our own use within the Group. But then competi\u00adtors also became aware of the machines and wanted to purchase them directly from us. Kratschmayer then decided to found SKADEC GmbH in 2018. This step was neces\u00adsary because spin\u00adning off the busi\u00adness unit allowed us to concen\u00adtrate fully on the devel\u00adop\u00adment and sale of water chillers and heat pumps using propane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why did you decide on propane?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Propane is a very effi\u00adcient refrig\u00aderant. Combined with its very good ther\u00admo\u00addy\u00adnamic prop\u00ader\u00adties, rela\u00adtively low pres\u00adsure rating, good mate\u00adrial compat\u00adi\u00adbility and high volu\u00admetric refrig\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion capacity, it is possible to create very compact and effi\u00adcient machines over a wide range of appli\u00adca\u00adtions. It is also ideal for use in heat pumps. Its prop\u00ader\u00adties can best be compared with those of R22, a refrig\u00aderant that was very popular with older refrig\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion engi\u00adneers but is now banned. Unlike R22, however, propane has no ODP, so it is not harmful to the ozone layer and has a very low global warming poten\u00adtial of 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Have you worked with other natural refrig\u00ader\u00adants before?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
We have had points of contact with all natu\u00adrally occur\u00adring refrig\u00ader\u00adants except water. Each of the three has advan\u00adtages and disad\u00advan\u00adtages. Ammonia is highly effi\u00adcient, but toxic and corro\u00adsive to copper mate\u00adrials. CO2<\/sub> can be used to create systems with very low temper\u00ada\u00adtures, but the oper\u00adating pres\u00adsures are compar\u00ada\u00adtively high. Hydro\u00adcar\u00adbons such as propane are flam\u00admable. In a direct compar\u00adison of the points rele\u00advant to us, such as appli\u00adca\u00adtion range, handling, and avail\u00adability, propane provided the best overall package. In addi\u00adtion, one of our refrig\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion engi\u00adneers wrote his thesis on propane \u2013 so it was pretty obvious that we would build on that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fear has always trumped reason in this respect. I don\u2019t want to down\u00adplay the risks of propane. Of course caution is required here. The fact is that it is a flam\u00admable gas. However, you also have to look at the whole thing in perspec\u00adtive. Each of us handles hydro\u00adcar\u00adbons on a daily basis, for example when refu\u00adeling. As an example of people\u2019s fear of flam\u00admable refrig\u00ader\u00adants, I had a conver\u00adsa\u00adtion with a facility manager of a large corpo\u00adra\u00adtion. He said: \u201cOh, propane on the roof? The plant fire depart\u00adment won\u2019t stand for that!\u201d The inter\u00adesting thing here was that the corpo\u00adra\u00adtion had a storage facility for large quan\u00adti\u00adties of solvents and gases at the loca\u00adtion we were discussing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe system we were talking about had a fill rate of less than five kilo\u00adgrams. There\u2019s more in a gas bottle for barbe\u00adcues.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The system we were talking about had a fill rate of less than five kilo\u00adgrams per circuit, so with two circuits, the total was ten kilo\u00adgrams. There\u2019s more in an 11-kilo\u00adgram gas bottle for barbe\u00adcues. We also recom\u00admend installing propane systems above a certain fill level outdoors or in specially designed equip\u00adment rooms. Propane is very volatile, so there can be no propane buildup if the outdoor instal\u00adla\u00adtion is done correctly. We are happy to advise our customers, espe\u00adcially on the impor\u00adtant points of instal\u00adla\u00adtion and system plan\u00adning. So, a lot of factors have to come together for a poten\u00adtial hazard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It goes without saying that our systems comply with the legal stan\u00addards and spec\u00adi\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtions. The connec\u00adtions in the system are tech\u00adni\u00adcally sealed for the long term, so leaks are very unlikely. However, if a leak should occur, our safety concept will kick in and ensure that no dangerous situ\u00ada\u00adtion can arise. We monitor the system contin\u00adu\u00adously with a gas sensor that is coupled with a two-stage system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur machines need highly effi\u00adcient, compact fans that are easy to control.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Propane ignites at a concen\u00adtra\u00adtion in the air of around 1.7 percent by volume as the lower limit and at around 10.8 percent by volume as the upper limit. When the gas sensor detects ten percent of the lower limit, i.e. of 1.7 percent by volume, the first stage is acti\u00advated. The machine housing with the refrig\u00aderant-carrying parts is then venti\u00adlated by a gener\u00adously dimen\u00adsioned ATEX fan, meaning that the escaping propane is discharged directly into the envi\u00adron\u00adment in a concen\u00adtra\u00adtion that is not capable of igni\u00adtion. When the 20 percent threshold is reached, all non-ATEX-certi\u00adfied elec\u00adtrical compo\u00adnents are de-ener\u00adgized. All safety-rele\u00advant compo\u00adnents are of course ATEX-certi\u00adfied and remain in oper\u00ada\u00adtion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our machines need highly effi\u00adcient, compact fans that are easy to control. At SKADEC, we attach great impor\u00adtance to high-quality compo\u00adnents, which is why we use only EC fans from ebm-papst for the air heat exchangers. The AxiBlades used are extremely effi\u00adcient, even at partial load. They are also quiet, which is of course a big plus for heat pumps, espe\u00adcially when used in resi\u00adden\u00adtial areas. To ensure that the systems can run according to demand, the stan\u00addard Modbus connec\u00adtion is also a great advan\u00adtage. We can eval\u00aduate all the data from the fans, thereby also providing our customers with digital added value. We were impressed by the effi\u00adciency of the EC tech\u00adnology, and also by the quality of the prod\u00aducts and excel\u00adlent inter\u00adper\u00adsonal rela\u00adtion\u00adships. It was just a perfect all-round fit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How did you become involved with natural refrig\u00ader\u00adants? In our parent company, Kratschmayer GmbH, we started looking into the subject years ago. At that time, only a few compa\u00adnies had the use of natural refrig\u00ader\u00adants on their radar. For us, the goal of pursuing a sustain\u00adable approach was central, so we were looking for a [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,8,4,9],"tags":[195,197],"class_list":["post-17346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fans","category-heating","category-insights","category-refrigeration-ventilation","tag-f-gas","tag-propane"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17346"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17363,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17346\/revisions\/17363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}But when people think of propane, they imme\u00addi\u00adately think of flam\u00adma\u00adbility.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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How do you reduce the \u2013 albeit minimal \u2013 risk in your systems?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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You use fans from ebm-papst for your systems. Why?<\/h3>\n\n\n
![](\"https:\/\/ebmpapst-7237.kxcdn.com\/en\/files\/2023\/03\/AxiBlade_ebmpapst.jpg\")