which ensures they cannot form a fl ammable atmosphere and hence are safe in use. Several air conditioning manufacturers are already making use of R32 as a replacement for R410A, and units are becoming available in the UK. R32 is actually an HFC with a GWP of 675, but is classifi ed as A2L – low fl ammability. Once again, R32 is only suitable for new equipment specifi cally designed to cope with its properties. This is leading to a major requirement for additional training for engineers, and FETA is involved in the development of relevant courses together with ACRIB.
The Challenges
F-Gases are used by a wide range of end users, not just the obvious candidates. They are widely used in transport refrigeration and the cold chain, in medical applications, aerosols and many more. End-users need to review all of their refrigeration and air conditioning systems to see what gases they are using. If they have high GWP gases, then they must plan to change these to a lower GWP refrigerant.
For a large supermarket chain, this process of conversion is a long, expensive and time consuming process, but is vitally important. In the UK, many end users have already undertaken this work, with the result that we are at the forefront in Europe of developing and introducing new refrigerants and technologies. A great deal of development continues on the use of low GWP gases. If there is anything that gets in the way of this, then these are practical issues which the industry faces in the use of new products. The properties of some of the low GWP alternatives, such as high pressure and fl ammability, preclude their use in existing equipment. Existing equipment can be
retrofi tted to lower GWP gases, but the GWP is limited by the requirement for non-fl ammability. For example to replace R404A, the lowest possible GWP is 1350. Many new low GWP alternatives are
patented products, and are thus only available from one supplier. Given the quota system, this could limit availability of such products.
Training and compliance The UK acr industry, and ultimately its consumers, has already been signifi cantly aff ected by the latest F-Gas Regulation. The regulation specifi es training standards requiring individuals and/or companies to be registered as F-Gas compliant. There are more stringent leak checking and record keeping requirements as well. With the introduction of new types of refrigerants, engineers need to be trained in their use and understand how their properties diff er from the gases they had previously used. There are also signifi cant safety implications involved.
The importance of training The fact that many alternatives exhibit diff ering levels of fl ammability mean that safety now becomes a major consideration when designing, installing and maintaining new equipment.
The need for technicians in the industry to be capable of handling gases with a wide range of diff ering properties means there is a major training requirement, and work on installing low GWP systems could be slowed down by skills shortages. FETA and ACRIB have been closely involved with the development of Trailblazer apprenticeship schemes for the industry, and much of the work which went into incorporating the changes anticipated in the advent of the regulation.
On the whole, we believe that new products and technologies are being introduced as quickly as possible to meet the requirements of the F-Gas Regulation.
While organisations such as ourselves have put much eff ort into getting over the issues surrounding the regulation, there can be no doubt that there are parts of the industry aff ected by the regulation that remain – for whatever reason – unaware of its implications.
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