Air conditioning and refrigeration contractors, service companies and end-users have been invited to enter a competition to find the oldest working York chiller in the UK and Ireland.

There are believed to be around 10,000 York brand chillers in service in the area, with an expected average working life of between 15 to 20 years. However, due to excellent design and engineering, many are known to continue operating for much longer.

John Pritchard (pictured), who leads Johnson Controls HVAC parts division, the specialist supplier of spare parts for York chillers, said: “If maintained and serviced regularly with genuine York parts, York chillers can keep providing reliable service for a great deal longer than the industry-expected life-span. The question is: how long?”.

To provide a conclusive answer, the company is launching the competition, with the finder of the oldest verified working York chiller receiving a prize of an exciting day out at the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at the Brands Hatch motor racing circuit.

Each York chiller has a unique serial number, which enables its year of manufacture to be identified. This can be found on the data plate, normally located inside the chiller control panel.

To enter a chiller into the competition, participants are invited to send a picture of the data plate together with a brief description of the chiller’s location and application. Johnson Controls will then acknowledge the entry and verify the information.

Johnson Controls HVAC Parts division has provided some guidance on what to look out for in the hunt for the oldest chiller. John Pritchard said: “Early York chillers were painted in a Caribbean Blue livery, before moving to what the company called Desert Tan, a mid-beige, in 1998. People should keep their eyes peeled for blue machines, as these go back to the early days – even before my time.”

He added: “A further clue is that older machines may be centrifugal chillers, perhaps operating away unobtrusively in basement plant rooms. Due to the inconvenience of replacing them, these machines may have been carefully maintained over the years. Many such chillers were installed during the initial construction stage of a building, with walls and floors literally constructed around them.

“It will be fascinating to see the entries come in, and how far back the winning chiller goes,” he concluded.

Entries should be sent to: alpesh.trivedi@jci.com, using the subject line Oldest York chiller.  Please provide a picture of the chiller’s data plate, a short description of its location and application, and your name and address and contact details.

The cut-off for entries is 5.00pm on 17 February 2016. The winner will be announced on 18 February, on the last day of the ACR Show, on the company’s stand. For full entry details, please see: http://www.johnsoncontrols.co.uk/content/gb/en/products/building_efficiency/service/parts.html