A popular and growing supermarket company had a problem.

According to Tom Hutchison, owner and sales manager of Phoenix-­-based Enreps LLC, grocery customers were complaining about being chilly and uncomfortable as they shopped the refrigerated aisles. Grocery managers were complaining of water puddles in front of Reach-­-in freezer cases and fogging that prevented shoppers from seeing the frozen product lines.

So Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets, with stores in Arizona, California and Nevada, began looking for a solution and contacted Enreps.

Enreps, experts in energy management and refrigeration HVAC systems and controls, with 23 years experience, have been providing energy efficiency testing and survey services to grocery chains across the U.S., including Kroger Companies, Food 4 Less, Smith’s Food and Drug Stores, Bashas, Fry’s and Sprouts Farmers Market.

“There were a number of customers complaining to management and some complaints even appeared online on Twitter,” Hutchison said. “It was a significant problem.”

As Hutchison began looking into the problems, he remembered meeting a company that specialized in air destratification. “I remembered talking to the Air Pear representatives at the Gov Energy show in Chicago,” he said.

With Enreps’ recommendation to install the Air Pear Thermal Equalizer, a cost-­-effective system that moves the hotter air in each store’s ceiling down to floor level, the issues were soon solved. Floor temperatures around the cold cases increased after only about 30 minutes of operating the Air Pear system, eliminating frigid conditions for shoppers.

“There have been huge benefits with the overall reduction of relative humidity where the Air Pear destratifiers have been installed,” Hutchison added.

Today, Enreps is continuing to oversee installation of the Air Pear Thermal Equalizers in Fresh & Easy stores. Some 36 store installations are complete, with another five under way in California. Air Pear is manufactured by Airius LLC in Longmont, Colo.

“Grocery shoppers who are comfortable will browse longer, and not rush through a store,” says Ray Avedon, CEO of Airius. “And grocers also soon realize that as the Air Pear steadies a store’s temperature, the workload is reduced on freezer case heaters and return air on the cold cases, creating savings on energy bills.

“As a long-­-time respected consultant to supermarkets, Enreps is the kind of company that Airius is pleased to work with,” Avedon said. “They get it and recognize the benefits that the Air Pear system can bring to the grocery market.”

Grocery companies with a goal of energy sustainability, for example, will receive points to a facility’s LEED rating by installing the Air Pear Thermal Equalizer, increasing the building’s levels of energy performance.

For information on Enreps, visit www.Enreps.com or call 602-­-404-­-6535.

To learn more about the Air Pear Thermal Equalizer, visit www.TheAirPear.com, or call 303-­-772-­-2633 to receive a free Energy Savings Analysis that will calculate your building’s annual cost savings and payback of investment in years. Complete data sheets on all six models of the Air Pear, including the new Model 100, is available online.