Coil Tech/US Chiller Services (Bahrain) is one of only three organisations in the entire Middle East which are factory and industry certified to service all the major manufacturers chillers, including Carrier, Trane, York, and McQuay, says a spokesman for the Bahrain-based specialist firm.
The other two firms are the Dubai-based Al Shirawi/US Chillers and the Saudi-based Zamil Cool Care/US Chiller Services. All three are joint venture companies, with Coil Tech having been the first to be established in July 2001.
‘Up until that time, Chiller owners were at the mercy of the chiller manufacturers’ agents, waiting for qualified service engineers to service their equipment, as well as having to pay greatly inflated prices for factory service, the spokesman points out. ‘The manufacturers agents acted as if they were doing the customer a favour by providing a service engineer – a service engineer who most likely was not factory trained or certified.
‘A facility chiller, if not serviced and repaired by a certified chiller specialist, will cost thousands of dollars in useless repairs and excessive energy consumption.’
US Chiller Services with its offices in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Dubai claims to be the only company in the Gulf that is factory and industry-certified to service and repair York, Carrier, Trane and McQuay liquid chillers.
‘Once we are given the opportunity to demonstrate our capabilities, the difference between our organisation’s abilities and those of the agents will be quite apparent to the end-user with whom we develop a long-lasting business relationship, comments Dan Mizesko, manager of US Chiller Services (Gulf).
He continues: ‘In other parts of the world, it’s an accepted fact that independent chiller service organisations (like US Chiller Services) provide a better alternative for service than going to the agent or manufacturer for repairs or maintenance.
‘The truth be told, chiller manufacturers and agents are not interested in providing quality solutions and services that benefit the end-user – they are interested in selling new chillers.
‘In the Gulf, the practice of going to an independent is still a fairly new concept, but this practice is being quickly reversed judging by the list of US Chiller Services’ contracts and retrofit projects it has been awarded, and the list of satisfied and loyal customers.’
The company has recently been awarded projects such as the service contracts in Bahrain for the Bahrain International Airport chiller plant comprising five Carrier centrifugal chillers with a capacity 3,500 tons, and for the Salmaniya Medical Centre, which has 10 Carrier centrifugal chillers with a capacity of 8,600 tons. Also in Bahrain, it has won the contract for the complete retrofit of four York reciprocating chillers at the Ritz Carlton Resort.
Other contracts in the Gulf include:
* The complete overhaul and repair of Trane centrifugal chillers at the City Centre in Dubai;
* The complete overhaul and repair of Trane centrifugal chillers at the Al Bustan Palace Hotel in Oman;
* Servicing the Trane centrifugal chillers of total plant capacity 9,000 tons for the King Fahad Military Hospital in Saudi Arabia; and,
* Refrigerant conversion of four York 2,600-ton centrifugal chillers from R-500 to R-134 at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital (Saudi Arabia).
US Chiller Services met with all the above customers to discuss their existing condition and proposed solutions that would benefit them, he says.
‘It was our superior technical capabilities, certifications, expertise and experience in the large tonnage chiller service industry, as well as our competitive pricing that established US Chiller Services as the Number One choice in the awarding of these prestigious and important projects,” remarks Mizesko.
‘A manufacturer agent is authorised to sell equipment. An agent is not factory-trained and certified to service and repair the equipment it sells,’ he points out. ‘The agents are only authorised to sell the manufacturers’ equipment and are not certified to service and repair the equipment they sell!
‘In fact, the local agent does not and is not required to obtain factory training and certification. Is an untrained and uncertified ‘mechanic’ the person you want to entrust your chiller to for service/retrofit and repair?’
US Chiller Services field service engineers and chiller specialists are certified from factory and industry training centres in the US. They are members of the Refrigeration Service Engineers Society as well as American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers. In addition, they have received training by, and are all members of the United Association of Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Service Engineers, he adds.
US Chiller Services is available to provide service around the clock, seven days a week throughout the Middle East and provides a guarantee: ‘If you are not 100 per cent satisfied with our organisation and services you do not pay.’
