By Eamonn Ryan
Andrew Perks – owner of safety and compliance company A Perks Enterprises, a SAIRAC Exempt Fellow, as well as a regular contributor to this publication as a subject expert in ammonia refrigeration – explains what sparked his interest in HVAC engineering.
He admits it was more a ‘stumble’ than a ‘spark’. His history commences in Scotland in 1947. “I have always been interested in mechanical things, my father was a tool setter, and I loved pottering around in his little workshop. Back in 1962 it was a case of taking whatever job you could get. I always wanted to be an electrician, but an apprenticeship for fitting and turning came up at L Sterne & Company – and that was my introduction to refrigeration.”
Since undertaking his apprenticeship in Glasgow in the 1960s he has held a variety of positions, including: contracts engineer, project engineer, refrigeration design engineer, company director for a refrigeration contracting company and eventually owing his own contracting company and low-temperature cold store.
Jumping ahead, he is now involved in adding skills to the ammonia industry, is Merseta and Ceta accredited and has written a variety of unit standards for SAQA that define the levels to be achieved in training in our industry. He is involved in drawing up ammonia plant audits of refrigeration systems to quantify their compliance with the legal requirements of SANS 10147. He is a SAQCC Gas registered inspector/designer.
Back during his time in Glasgow he completed his City & Guilds Certificate and a Higher National Engineering Diploma. He studied in mechanical engineering where he was involved in plant layout and design.
Thereafter, a defining moment came when he chose to move into the drawing office as a contracts/ projects engineer when he was 19. “I always enjoyed technical drawing and really enjoyed contracting. From the drawing office I requested the opportunity to expand my knowledge and was sent to a site that I had done all the drawings and projecting for. Well, being a bit energetic and a bit of a know it all and wanting to get things moving along on site I started to organising other people on the site. The supervisor said there was only room for one supervisor on site and I was kicked off site. As penance I was made to work on a fishing trawler in mid-winter in Port Glasgow. That was pure torture as I rode to work on a motorcycle. Scottish winters can be rough.”
That wasn’t his only sobering moment: “Much later, I remember a meeting once in Belgium with a head engineer of a major world refrigerating company and being asked what did I want to talk about – to which I replied ‘refrigeration’. He informed me that’s a big subject and it is.”
He emigrated to South Africa in 1974 and worked for Grenco as a project engineer with food processing plants and refrigeration systems in Cape Town. He was transferred to Johannesburg in 1975 to manage the contracting branch returning to Cape Town at the end of 1977.
Overcoming challenges
Overcoming challenges is a core skill in the refrigeration sector and he has many anecdotes in his portfolio.
Perks describes one project that makes him particularly proud. “I was involved in a project to build an export abattoir in Khartoum, Sudan. There were lots of logistical challenges, with the primary challenge being to train the locals to operate the equipment installed. Then one day during construction there was a full-blown sandstorm. I saw all the locals quickly wrapping up and disappearing – and then the sandstorm arrived. On the basis of ‘When in Rome…’, I immediately did the same. Another challenge was when all the galvanised pipe fittings disappeared from site – a major problem when you are so far away from a supplier, but fortunately I was able to buy back my own stuff in the local souk. On reflection it was the only real issue we had on the project so all-in-all it went to plan and we made a profit,” he explains.
In another project, he relates how they had developed and built a major cold store complex in Cape Town. “In the first week after commissioning, about 20% full, we experienced major compressor failures, caused by an oil cooling problem, leaving the plant without any refrigeration. The problem was remedied the following day without any product damage as we had a spare compressor available that was scheduled to be delivered the next day to another customer. The other customer was none too happy – but what can you do other than airfreight another compressor immediately. Sometimes it is better to ask forgiveness than permission,” he says.
“The scariest problem I ever had was when I was sitting with my brand-new cold store with no cooling capacity – but failure was never an option. I have always appreciated that saying ‘boer maak a plan’.”
Another unexpected challenge he faced was supervising a weekend shut down in Johannesburg to repair welding. “I had just arrived from Cape Town to handle this welding which had earlier been rejected. I had the plant pumped down and evacuated, when I turned round there was only me and a welder and an idle-standing dairy full of milk. I got a hold of the welder’s car keys – and we both worked right through the night and a Highveld storm to get the dairy up and running around 4 am. I was not impressed. I created merry havoc next day. Clearly, the lack of staff meant someone had set out to teach me a lesson. It was a lesson well learned,” says Perks.
Given his high-profile role in training, Perks has been personally involved in a number of innovations. “Back in the early 2000s I was involved in drawing up SAQA unit standards for the refrigeration industry with Hans Damhuis, but probably my most significant contribution to the industry was SANS 10147:2014 Edition 5 with emphasis on safety and Annex D.”
Perks says that he had never thought to run his own company – until a particular partnership went bad. “In Port Elizabeth in 1987 I realised what a mistake I had made when I entered into a partnership with a mechanical handling company in Atlantis to form Coldpak, a refrigeration contracting company. I thereafter took full ownership of the company which I sold in 2003 so as to concentrate on recycling my knowledge back into the industry via A Perks Enterprises – a safety and compliance company.”
The early days
He relates some anecdotes from the ‘early days’ in South Africa at Grenco Projects. “The first time I meet John Ackermann I had had the use of his car when I first landed while he was in Joburg. In his car, I got rear ended outside the university while coming into work one morning. It’s not nice to say ‘Hi, oh and by the way your car needs to be fixed’. It’s amazing that we are still friends to this day.
“Another memorable occasion came before I learnt to speak Afrikaans – I have never been good at languages – when I got up from a site visit on a farm in Ceres and left the customer’s office after telling him what I thought of him as he refused to speak to me in Scottish.”
Perks has a talent and a passion for engineering. Though nowadays there is an amazing amount of information available on websites, he describes how his generation had to learn the hard way. “Slide rules, trig tables, and more – yes there was a life before computers. What I always loved about my job was that you were involved from the conception right through to hand over. You start with a client and end up with a friend. What is there not to like about that?
“When I was an apprentice in the drawing office in the mid-60s I was told that the advent of R502 would be the death knell of ammonia. Now, what with the recent growth of green energy that’s certainly not the case. The use of ammonia is expanding and the demand for highly skilled personnel is similarly increasing.
“When I first arrived in Cape Town there was a large pool of highly skilled overseas-trained artisans, but sadly this is no longer the case. The exposure and training our young people are getting needs to be expanded. The older generation like me are disappearing without getting involved in passing on the knowledge to the next generation. However, I am encouraged that Refrigerating Engineers Technicians Association (RETA) from America (see article https://coldlinkafrica.co.za/reta-sharing-expertise-with-africa/) is actively pushing their internationally renowned ammonia training programmes worldwide. I am expecting that to become available in the near future in South Africa. There are a lot of young technicians that will benefit from this.
“I remember the time I collected Nigel Amschwand from the airport when he arrived in South Africa in February 1975. Like me he had no idea what he was coming too so I introduced him to the safari suit, shorts and long socks. When he was all kitted up, I then told him about the comb in the right-hand sock. I don’t think he has ever forgiven me for that. Ask him if you get the chance!”
The future
The future is all about energy efficiency and carbon footprints, says Perks, with ammonia being one of the most efficient refrigerants. “There is a drive afoot to reduce the ammonia charges in systems to minimise risk and exposure. With integrated control systems optimising efficiencies and control, we are in a whole new era.
“I can only speak for the ammonia industry. With the advent of green ammonia and the energy aspects associated with it ammonia is receiving a new lease of life that none of us could have anticipated. Small package units utilising PHEs (plate heat exchangers) is the order of the day already constructed and commissioned at the manufacturer’s facility where the specialist knowledge is available. This will result in diagnostic trouble shooting that – while the most efficient – could present problems. We’ve all had that situation where the car won’t start and has to be towed into the agent’s workshop to get diagnosed. We will need to build in standby capacity.
“If I look at how the ammonia industry has progressed since the 1960s who knows where we are going? It is important that our young engineers keep abreast with new innovations and developments. That means travelling overseas to conferences like IIAR (International Institute of All-Natural Refrigeration) and building relationships. You can see this with innovations from international companies. I think that South African engineers are as good as any in the world – we have a great work ethic and are sought after worldwide. We just need to get the right training and technical know-how,” adds Perks.
“As they say ‘the only thing you can be certain of is change’: smaller package units are the order of the day. My sincere hope is that South African standards and training is kept in line with international standards. Our qualified engineers really are not trained in the intricacies of ammonia system designs – this they tend to learn at the company where they work. I am excited that RETA has committed itself to bring their training programmes to South Africa and open a local chapter. This I would like to be involved in – if we don’t mentor the next wave of engineers, who will?”