Unlike this one, the Ice Bear is a refrigeration technology helping California energy companies store energy. [Image credit: Flickr user ]Posted February 18, 2015 Tags: , , , , , , , , , Meet the Ice Bear. No, it’s not a cousin of the polar bear living in the Arctic. It’s a big machine that uses a system of coils, 450 gallons of water and another evaporator coil. It was created by Ice Energy, tested by the energy provider Southern California Edison and can be added to a building’s air conditioner to store electrical energy as ice. And many of them may be moving to California. Last October, the California Public Utilities Commission ordered its three big investor-owned electric utilities — Pacific Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas and Electric — to start storing electricity. It’s the first energy storage mandate in the U.S., and it requires the companies to build enough capacity to store 1.3 gigawatts of electricity, enough to power one million homes, by the end of 2020.

Storing electricity is expensive and inefficient because of the energy lost in its conversion from storage to usable form. Design constraints also prevent large amounts of electricity from being stored. Big electric companies have turned to technologies to ease the process, and one of these is the Ice Bear. The Ice Bear works by freezing water during the night, when electricity is less expensive and in less demand. While the rest of the building is sleeping (or at least not using power) a refrigerant runs through the coils of the Ice Bear to freeze the water. The next afternoon, when air conditioners are most likely at their peaks, a pump in the Ice Bear sends the refrigerant, cooled by the ice it created, into the air conditioner’s evaporator coil. This helps cool hot air that’s coming from the building. This newly chilled air is then pushed into the building, just as an air conditioner would normally do. Eventually, enough warmer room air reaches the Ice Bear’s intake vents to melt all the ice in the device, leaving it filled with liquid water.

When that happens, the building’s air conditioning finally kicks on, and runs until the Ice Bear’s water supply is frozen again overnight. The California Public Utilities Commission mandated the storage plan as a way to smooth out the daily highs and lows of power production and consumption. “There are times during the day when we are producing more electricity than we need, and other times when demand exceeds what is on the grid. This will help us avoid blackouts without having to build new generation,” state assemblywoman Nancy Skinner told the San Jose Mercury News in 2013 when the project was first proposed. Now, electricity produced by power plants running at night when demand is low can be stored and used during the day when demand is much higher. More storage capacity will be especially helpful in encouraging the installation of solar panels and wind turbines, which can provide power only when the sun is out and the breeze is blowing. Ice Energy estimates that one of its $10,000 units can “shift 72 kilowatt-hours of on-peak energy to off-peak hours.”

That’s enough to keep 72 40-watt bulbs running for just over a day. So far, Southern California Edison is willing to buy 2,500 Ice Bears for the West Los Angeles Basin region, according to the press release announcing the decision. wall mounted room ac unitBut this is only contributing to a small portion of California’s 1.3 gigawatt mandate. carrier ac parts nashvilleWe’ll have to wait and see how much less weight the system will have to bear with these units in place.5 ton home ac unit The indoor unit does not produce odour by itself. Generally, the surrounding smell is absorbed into the fan coil unit and discharges out with the air flow. In many cases, air conditioner blows out bad smelling air because of mold and mildew accumulation at the cooling coil and drain pan.

Air circulation resulted in small particles impurities in the air attach themselves to the fins or around drainage areas. General servicing is required in such cases to eliminate the root cause of smell. The line flow fan may have accumulated too much dirt. It is recommended to carry out general servicing. This could be due to insufficient refrigerant or lack of servicing. If your air conditioner is low on refrigerant, either it was undercharged at installation or it leaks. If it leaks, simply adding refrigerant is not a solution. A pressure test to determine the leak should be conducted, fix any leak, test the repair, and then charge the system with the correct amount of refrigerant. If it’s due to the latter, general cleaning is needed to improve the performance of the air conditioner. During COOL or DRY operation with the vane angle at Angle 4 or 5 when the compressor’s cumulative operation time exceeds 1 hour, the vane angle automatically changes to Angle 1 for dew prevention.

This can be caused by the following: • The cooling coil may be choked with impurities. • Dirt had clogged up on the line flow fan after a period of time. • Filter is dirty. It is recommended to do general cleaning to improve the performance of the air conditioner. For severe blockages, please engage a professional to perform chemical washing for it. A dirty coil affects the air flow of the indoor unit. Please consult a cleaning specialist. The "Hi" fan mode is for rapid cooling and some noise is expected. It is recommended to switch to "medium/low" fan mode after room temperature is achieved and noise will be minimized. The outdoor unit is noisy It may be due to the following: • Refrigerant pipes may be too near to each other • Screws may not be properly tightened. • No rubber pads were placed underneath the outdoor unit The indoor unit is not cold when turned on The indoor unit may be too dirty or has a shortage of refrigerant.

The indoor unit is too cold The temperature setting on your remote controller is too low. The indoor unit cannot be switched on • The remote controller may be faulty. • The receiver/infrared ray at the indoor unit may be faulty. • There is no power supply to the indoor unit. • The battery of the remote controller needs replacement. • Please check the power supply source whether there is any trip. It is recommended to replace any of the above items. • The connecting wires / refrigerant pipes may be connected incorrectly. • LEV coil/valve may be faulty. This is normally caused by blockage in the drainage pipe. It is recommended to do general servicing for the air conditioner.During cool and dry operations, pipe connecting sections are cooled and causes water to condensate. It is recommended to install the recommended drainage kit to prevent water dripping to your neighbour's outdoor unit. • The refrigerant gas may be insufficient.

• The air filters, line flow fan or cooling coil may be dirty. Generally, the estimated savings is more than 30%. It is used to improve air quality.Flushing of the existing pipes and vacuuming must be performed. It depends on the set temperature, running hours and the electrical tariff charges. It is recommended to clean quarterly. Replacement is required for wear and tear. It is used on a rainy day or when the relative humidity is high. The fan occasionally stops to improve the removal of moisture in the environment. Please refer to the User Manual. The remote controller is of “daily type” setting and is required to program current time first, followed by start and stop button of the timer. This shows that the room temperature has reached or close to the desired temperature. Yes, please bring your remote controller to us for modification. The temperature will only be shown in cool mode setting or the remote controller is faulty.

It is recommended to purchase your remote controller with us if it is faulty. Please switch to “Hi” fan speed for faster cooling. No, we do not guarantee on the air conditioning system. It is highly recommended to use copper piping. Rust is not covered under our guarantee terms and conditions. We do not provide paint works for the rust. Due to the compact high efficiency design of the heat exchanger, the use of wall mounted fan coil unit are not recommended. Only ceiling concealed or suspended units is recommended for such installation. They are blinking continuously as the safety switch located on the left of the louvers is not properly locked in. It acts as a safety device and does not mean that your unit is faulty. Ensure that the safety switch is properly secured in position and it will stop blinking. Too much food inside the refrigerator compartment may blocked off the air circulation to the vegetable compartment. The damper thermostat is faulty or obstructed.