Johnson Controls Launches FRICK HeatPAC Ammonia Heat Pump for 190-Degree Process Water
HeatPAC covers 200 to 2,000 kilowatts of heating and supplies water at 130 to 190 degrees F. Its ammonia charge starts at 87 pounds. Johnson Controls' internal modeling puts it at up to seven times as efficient as a natural gas boiler.
Johnson Controls launched the FRICK HeatPAC Reciprocating Ammonia Heat Pump on Nov. 2, a packaged unit that pulls waste heat from a food or beverage plant's ammonia refrigeration system and turns it into hot water for pasteurization, sanitation and space heating. The line runs from 200 to 2,000 kilowatts of heating capacity, roughly 680,000 to 6.8 million Btu per hour, with supply water from 130 to 190 degrees F.
HeatPAC is the first FRICK product engineered around the Mark 5 Sabroe reciprocating compressor platform, the company said. Ammonia charge can be as low as 87 pounds.
"As energy costs continue to rise, waste heat is becoming an increasingly valuable and often untapped resource for food and beverage producers," said Micah Lehman, product manager at Johnson Controls.
- Fully welded plate-and-shell condenser with an integrated desuperheater, which Johnson Controls says reaches higher water temperatures in a smaller footprint
- Two-stage oil separation
- Crankcase ventilation to protect against liquid slugging
- Variable frequency drive with a standard 4:1 turndown
- FRICK Quantum HD controller with Unity architecture and a 15-inch touchscreen, configured per application and able to tie into other plant refrigeration equipment
- Factory assembly and pre-testing
Seven Times a Boiler, by Johnson Controls' Model
The company says HeatPAC can be up to seven times as energy efficient as a natural gas boiler in typical food and beverage applications, a figure it attributes to internal modeling. The release gives no coefficient of performance, source-water temperature or boiler efficiency behind that ratio, so the claim cannot be converted into a COP at a given lift. Its one worked example comes from FRICK Coolware selection software: a cheese producer needing 2,000 kW of 140-degree water would cut annual energy costs by up to 40 percent against natural gas boilers, based on the energy prices and operating assumptions entered.
Coolware estimates how much waste heat a job requires, the efficiency at those conditions and the heat delivered, and it produces the performance ratings needed to compare operating cost against an existing boiler. Johnson Controls says the standardized design lowers upfront cost and can shorten lead times by weeks compared with engineered-to-order industrial heat pumps.
Why This Matters to Contractors
Johnson Controls' Sabroe brand already lists a HeatPAC line built on its HPO, HPC and HPX high-pressure reciprocating compressors, rated at 300 to 2,700 kW with hot water up to 90 degrees C, or 194 F, and compressors reaching 40 bar differential and 60 bar design pressure. The FRICK version stops at 2,000 kW and 190 F. For plants already running FRICK compressors and Quantum controls, that puts a heat pump on the same controller family the service crew already maintains.
Sources
- Johnson Controls, "Johnson Controls new standardized heat pump to turn waste heat into energy savings," Nov. 2, 2026. johnsoncontrols.com
- Buildings, "Johnson Controls Premieres FRICK HeatPAC Reciprocating Ammonia Heat Pump for Food and Beverage Facilities," Nov. 4, 2026. buildings.com
- Sabroe, "HeatPAC Heat Pump" product page. sabroe.com