Application Frigoriste -
The interface is clearly designed by engineers for engineers. Buttons are large enough for gloved fingers, and the text is crisp. However, the learning curve is steep. If you are a first-year apprentice, you will be lost. There is no "wizard" mode that explains why you need to enter liquid line length or ambient temperature. You either know what you’re doing or you don’t. I appreciate the lack of hand-holding, but a few embedded tooltips wouldn’t hurt. This is why you buy the app. The pressure-temperature (PT) chart database is astounding . FrigoMaster Pro supports over 45 refrigerants, including legacy gases (R12, R502), modern HFOs (R1234yf, R1234ze), natural refrigerants (R290, R600a, R744/CO2), and even obscure blends like R407A and R427A.
4.2/5 Price: Free with in-app purchases (or €9.99/month for Pro) Platform: iOS & Android Reviewed by: A certified commercial refrigeration engineer with 12 years of experience Introduction Let’s be honest: the world of refrigeration is unforgiving. One miscalculation on superheat, one wrong refrigerant blend, or an incorrect pipe sizing can cost you a compressor, a walk-in freezer full of product, or a very angry client. For years, we relied on battered pocket notebooks, slide rules, and thick, coffee-stained R744 pressure-temperature charts. Then came the digital age, and with it, a flood of half-baked apps. Enter FrigoMaster Pro – an application that claims to replace your gauges, your charts, your logbooks, and your sanity. After using it daily for six months on everything from small bottle coolers to industrial ammonia cascades, here is my honest, long-form review. First Impressions & Interface (4/5) The app opens to a clean, dark-mode-friendly dashboard. No annoying splash video, no "sign up to see the temperature" nonsense. You are greeted with six core modules: PT Calculator, Superheat/Subcooling, Pipe Sizing, Load Estimator, Logbook, and F-Gas Tracker. application frigoriste
Yes – to every journeyman and contractor. For students, buy the monthly subscription for your exam month, then cancel. For hobbyists, stick with free alternatives. For the pros: this is the Leatherman of refrigeration apps. The interface is clearly designed by engineers for engineers
A Deep Dive into FrigoMaster Pro: The Indispensable, Yet Imperfect, Companion for the Modern Refrigeration Technician If you are a first-year apprentice, you will be lost
Why only 3.5 stars? Because the is too conservative. For a 30m R290 line at -10°C evaporating, the app insisted I needed a 1-1/8" line, which is overkill and economically stupid. Experienced fitters will know to override it, but a junior tech might waste money on copper. The Load Estimator for cold rooms is basic – it uses rough rules of thumb (e.g., 150 W/m³ for a frozen room). For a serious design, you still need CoolPack or a manual J-calculation. This module is good for a quick sanity check, not for final engineering. F-Gas Tracker & Digital Logbook (5/5 – for compliance) If you work in the EU or any region with strict F-gas regulations (like the UK or Australia), this module is worth the subscription price alone. You can scan the barcode of a unit, log the refrigerant type, charge weight, and leak test dates. The app then generates a PDF report ready for inspection. It also tracks your company’s total CO2 equivalent and sends you push reminders for mandatory leak checks (3 months, 6 months, 12 months depending on charge size).
The killer feature here is the . FrigoMaster Pro pairs seamlessly with most Bluetooth probes (Testo, Fieldpiece, UEi). The real-time graph of superheat drift over 15 minutes is a thing of beauty. One star deducted because the Bluetooth pairing process occasionally drops out when the phone goes to sleep, forcing a re-sync. Annoying when you’re on a ladder. Pipe Sizing & Load Estimator (3.5/5) This is the weakest link, though still decent. The pipe sizing tool uses the standard ASHRAE pressure drop method (1K per 10m for suction lines). You enter refrigerant, capacity (kW/TR), equivalent length, and suction/discharge temperatures. It spits out recommended line sizes and even calculates oil return velocity.
Unlike other apps that simply show a static chart, this one is dynamic. Tap a pressure (in psi, bar, or kPa), and it instantly calculates the saturation temperature for the liquid and vapor phases separately (critical for blends with glide). The "inverse" function lets you input a temperature and get the pressure. I tested it against my physical PT chart for R448A – the app was accurate to 0.1°F. Furthermore, the for zeotropic blends automatically shows you the bubble and dew points. This feature alone saved me hours of head-scratching on a supermarket rack last month. Superheat & Subcooling Module (4.5/5) This module turns your smartphone into a diagnostic co-pilot. You input suction pressure (from your manifold), suction line temperature (from a clamp probe), and liquid line data. The app instantly gives you target superheat based on indoor/outdoor conditions and actual superheat.
