Local manufacturing firm Coil-Tech was responsible for bringing into Bahrain and the Middle East an American firm that specialises in large tonnage chillers - US Chiller Services (USCS) - and in doing so it set in motion for the US company joint ventures and partnerships for a range of services in the chiller field.

Coil-Tech fabricates at its Mina Salman factory air to air heat exchangers of the fin and tube type, products that USCS installs. The American company specialises in the repair, maintenance, retrofit, service and installation of all makes and models of heavy applied liquid chillers ranging in size from 100 tonnes to 10,000 tonnes. The company performs services on centrifugal, screw, reciprocating and absorption chillers as well as ancillary equipment.
Coil-Tech and US Chiller Services set up a joint venture in 2001 following which a service centre was established in Bahrain. This led to another joint venture between USCS and Al Shirawi for establishing and operating service offices throughout the UAE. In May of 2005, US Chiller Services signed an MoU with McQuay International, becoming its authorised service representative for all centrifugal and screw chiller services in Bahrain and the UAE.  Under this agreement USCS will be responsible for all start-up, commissioning, warrantee and all services for the entire McQuay centrifugal and screw chiller line in the region.
Soon afterwards, USCS signed an MoU with Stellar Inc, which develops design, engineering, construction, design/build, general contracting and construction management projects and district cooling plants. USCS will provide its expertise in the commissioning, start-up operation and maintenance of the central plants installed by Stellar in the Arabian Gulf
The Jacksonville, Florida-based USCS maintains more than 20 strategic support locations throughout the US, and internationally it serves North, South and Central America with business units in Mexico, Brazil, Puerto Rico and Dubai.
Some 95 per cent of the coils manufactured and installed in Bahrain are those manufactured by Coil-Tech, claims Mohammed Razwan, its business development manager.
“We go to the site, take precise measurements, make a drawing, and pass the information on to the production department which then fabricates. We do everything from designing to fabrication and installation,” he added.
In the service industry, the CoilTech/US Chiller venture has Bahrain International Airport as one of many prestigious clients.  There they provide a round-the-clock service and monthly maintenance and annual comprehensive predictive maintenance services to the airport’s parallel water-cooled plant of five Carrier 19 Fa centrifugal fluid chillers with a collective nominal capacity of 4,250 TR. Services have involved the corrective overhauling of machines during the takeover period as well as controls upgrades to microprocessor-based controls The plant covers the entire public terminal building as well as the VIP section, all internal air-handling units and primary and secondary chilled water fluid pumps (all of which fall under the responsibility of US Chiller Services) along with dry coolers that feed the cooling medium/water to each of the water-cooled condensers.
US Chiller Services’ predictive maintenance is key to optimal building systems management. Some of the predictive services offered are vibration analysis, thermographic testing, eddy current testing; water/oil/refrigerant analysis performed by an independent US laboratory, motor insulation testing, ultrasonic flow analysis and chiller performance KW per tonne capacity and energy analysis.
USCS offices in the US have direct access to all the international original equipment manufacturers’ genuine replacement parts. “This gives us an edge in terms of cost efficiency by eliminating expensive downtime and providing fast procurement of required components,” a USCS spokesman said.
Other servicing sites in Bahrain are Ritz Carlton, on which it has been working for the past three years; Bahrain Mall; American Mission Hospital; Golden Sands in Manama; Seef Residence; Novotel, Movenpick and Regency Hotel.
The Coil-Tech/US Chiller venture has five Western engineers permanently based in Bahrain. There are a total of 56 engineers and technicians operating in the kingdom.  All US Chiller Service field service engineers are certified to service Carrier, Trane, York and McQuay chillers. The company says they have more extensive training to service large tonnage chillers than the factory service representatives themselves.
“US Chiller Field Service engineers have not only a minimum of 15 years’ hands-on field chiller service experience but they are also certified by the United Association of Refrigeration Service technicians and hold active memberships in the Refrigeration Service Engineers Society and ASHRAE,” the USCS spokesman says.  “Additionally, every USCS engineer has directly worked for one or more of the major chiller manufacturers as a senior chiller specialist or higher and has been directly responsible for the hands-on training of the factory’s mechanics under their supervision.”
In the UAE, the Al Shirawi/US Chiller venture maintains and services sites at Burj Al Arab, Emirates Towers, Grand Hyatt, all the Emaar Properties and Palm District Cooling among other places. Nedhal Shaheen, managing director of  Coil-Tech, Bahrain, is one of the directors at the UAE joint venture, which has its own plant in Al Quoz to manufacture products similar to what Coil Tech manufactures in Bahrain.
“For too long, chiller owners have been at the mercy of the chiller manufacturers, waiting for qualified engineers to service their equipment as well as having to pay greatly inflated prices for factory service,” said Shaheen and Navin M Valrani, executive director, Al Shirawi UAE, in a joint statement.
“No longer do property owners have to succumb to the OEMs. US Chiller Services now offers a level of expertise and service never seen before in the region.” Remarked Dan J Mizesko, managing partner of US Chiller Services International: “From the time we first met with the people at Coil-Tech and Al Shirawi, we knew we had a partnership going. Their organisation’s philosophy, work ethic and overall goals were in sync with ours.  We are now, in just a matter of 4 years, the undisputed leader in the Middle East for large tonnage chiller services and energy solutions, providing unbiased and professional services and engineers.”