Once an HVAC/R system is installed and operating correctly, it should last for years, right? Yes, it should, but depending on where a system’s installed, many factors can shorten life and reduce efficiency.

1 of which is corrosion caused by salty air (common in coastal areas) and heavy industrial pollution. These corrosive agents will first attack unprotected coil fins, which are commonly made of aluminum. Aluminum has excellent thermal transfer qualities for efficiency but is also a highly active metal susceptible to corrosive agents. Corrosion also poses a problem to other system components such as valves, cabinets and other sheet metal structures.

Who really cares about corrosion?  We’ll tell you.

To combat corrosion, coatings are often applied, either at the factory, in the field upon installation, or even after installation. Various parties have a vested interest in a long-lasting, efficient system:

• OEMs – their reputation is at stake and it builds their brand’s value.
• Maintenance Supervisors – they want to spend less time and expense on servicing.
• Building Owners –their capital investment lasts longer and helps ensure reliability, so tenants don’t endure any undue outages.
• HVAC/R Service Companies—they work on these systems and nothing means more to them then to ensure the efficiency and longevity of the system

Coating vs No Coating

While it is often said, any coating is better than none, different coating technologies provide differing levels of protection. The best is a coating that’s factory applied where process variables can be tightly controlled. This type of coating is known as E-Coating, or electro-deposition coating.  A process by which electrically charged particles are deposited out of a water suspension to coat the HVAC/R coil.  A special paint formulation is applied regulated by the amount of voltage applied.

One of the very best in the industry is Modine’s ElectroFin^® E-Coat process. Through an engineered process, our specialized coating is applied to the coils before they’re assembled into an evaporator or condenser unit. E-coating goes deep into the coil, ensuring complete coverage. Often e-coating is specified by the building owner or architect.

ElectroFin^® E-Coat developed a specific, proprietary e-coat formulation to allow extension of e-coat protection to RTPF and MCHE technology. To assure proper coating coverage without bridging, ElectroFin^® E-Coat with High-Edge build technology should be specified.

ElectroFin^® E-Coat is optimized to apply the most complete coverage throughout the coil, while assuring that the applied coating is uniformly micro thin, yet hard and flexible. As we have mentioned, ElectroFin^® E-Coat and our process, is exclusive for heat transfer coils only. No other products (like radiators and other metal products) will ever infiltrate or contaminate our process tanks.

ElectroFin^® E-Coat is a proprietary technology that can only be applied at our facilities, located in Kentucky, Texas, Mexico and Italy.  Our unique process provides an electro-deposition coating process that involves epoxy paint particles evenly suspended in deionized water. When electrically charged, the paint particles migrate to and bond with aluminum, copper, and other conductive metal surfaces that form the heat exchanger coils. Resin and pigment migrate to the part, and an organic uniform film is irreversibly deposited.

LEARN MORE—your investment is worth it!

Find out more about Modine Coatings by visiting our website at

https://www.modinecoatings.com/ or contact via telephone at 903-253-3238 or e-mail at https://www.modinecoatings.com/contact-us/

ElectroFin^® E-Coat is available at the following Modine locations:

• Louisville, KY
• Jacksonville, TX
• Ramos Arizpe, MX
• San Vito, Italy

This series of articles is produced by: Dan Fisher- Director of Sales & Marketing, Modine Coatings North America Daniel.W.Fisher@modine.com

and Alessandro Fumi- General Manager, Modine Coatings EMEA Alessandro.Fumi@modine.com

Both Alessandro and Dan have worked with many top HVAC/R equipment manufacturers, design and mechanical engineers and application specialists on engineered coatings, corrosion protection and coating applications