F-GAS
refrigeration needs, as the cost of 1kg of refrigerant is now greater than the cost of one hour of a technician’s time to go and repair the leak. As the cost of refrigerants increases, contractors also have to put up their prices and pass on the hike to customers.
This switches the focus to making synthetic refrigerant systems leak tight, but in older distributed systems that have been in used for many
years, leakage rates run in the order of 5-10% of the total content of the plant per year.
On the other hand, new investment in new plants also has its challenges because if the contractor is being asked to supply the refrigerant, the cost of the gas that is going into the plant is probably multiple times higher than the profit the contractor is going to make from the job. I f there is any issue during the commissioning of the system and a loss of refrigerant occurs, that is his total livelihood gone. This is actually making contractors reluctant to propose HFC systems because of the in creased risks.
Equipment Ban From a service point of view,
restrictions on servicing equipment with high GWP come into play from 2020 onwards. This means that if you have a leak on this type of system, you would not be allowed to refill it with the same gas which is being phased out.
A key thing to remember is that it is very difficult to introduce a regulation like F-Gas, but once the regulation exists, it is very easy to amend the numbers. The reason changes are likely to happen is that this is what has already happened with the CFC and the HCFC phase down.
If you have high risk refrigerants in your plant, then you have to change something in the near future, or you run the risk of your cooling system not being available to you as it can’t be maintained. These refrigerants are already becoming harder to source and expensive to purchase, so it’s best to plan ahead for the future and transition as soon as possible.
If you’re using the medium risk
refrigerants, then it’s okay for now but you should expect to make changes in the next two to three years to stay compliant with the regulations and protect your business from price increases and reduced availability. If you’re using a low or no risk refrigerant, you’ve protected yourself from the regulations.
For those using refrigeration systems with high risk fluids, the next step should be to try and move from them to medium risk, or medium risk to low risk in order to be as prepared as possible.
Moving from high GWP to low GWP refrigerants is a complex process, and one of the challenges is flammability. Many gases are fantastic from a global warming point of view, but it is the flammable characteristics of the gas which brings its own safety difficulties. Propane can be used safely in small systems such as domestic refrigerators or an outdoor air cool chiller plant, yet it wouldn’t be feasible for a split air conditioning system. Similarly, ammonia has a toxicity level to consider, so it could be used in a larger chiller but, again, not for an air conditioning system in an enclosed space.
In order to reduce GWP, we need to move away from A1 to the new A2L ‘mildly flammable’ classification or even A3. The only exception is CO fire suppressant.
2 which is a
The next generation of low GWP, synthetic blends will be classified as A2L due to their high concentration of HFO, or lower GWP HFO like R32. We need to accept this and develop systems to suit the flammability issue. As with ammonia, however, we’ve been using ammonia for over 100 years. There is no single solution, but there are plenty of options and opportunities provided by the F-Gas phase-down. CO2 and ammonia are currently experiencing growth and they’re moving into areas they wouldn’t have been used previously.
It is possible to convert your plant and make it more efficient than it was before with a new choice of gas, especially as the cost of HFC refrigerants continues to increase.
Tel: 01344 853182
www.aircon.panasonic.co.uk
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