GREEN MATTERS
The hidden danger of air conditioning
As summers continue to break records, installation of air-conditioning is becoming a necessity in new buildings and retrofi tting is becoming more common place, which naturally brings up the issue of leak detection which Carl Tugwell, project manager at Aquilar discusses here.
A
lthough positive steps have been made to reduce the global warming potential of refrigerant gases being used for air conditioning systems, no
installation can be guaranteed leak free. Other than the more obvious impact on the environment,
there is also a more immediate danger present if a refrigerant gas leaks into an occupied space. Common gases used, such as R410A and R32 are denser than air, which means a signifi cant leak can push oxygen out of a room leading to serious health conditions or even suff ocation. As the gases are odourless, occupants would be unaware of any leak, large or small, occurring. It suddenly makes staying in a cosy air condition hotel room rather concerning. We are assured and comforted seeing the gentle red pulse of the smoke alarm on the ceiling, but what is looking after us in the event of a refrigerant leak? The current British Standard (BSEN378-1:2016+A1:2020,
Refrigerating systems and heat pumps. Safety and environmental requirements) addresses this issue by providing requirements for the safety of personnel and property and provides guidance for the protection of the environment. In relation to refrigerant leak detection, the standard advises that refrigerant sensors may be required in an area dependant on calculating certain criteria, such as the volume of the area, the total charge of the AC system serving the area, amount of fresh air etc. Many new buildings are looking to comply with this regulation. Additionally, the F-Gas regulation sets requirements for leak checks dependant on the size of the air conditioning system. Installing a fi xed leak detection system reduces the frequency of maintenance checks required. Fortunately, there is a solution. Like smoke alarms,
refrigerant gas detectors are not new. However, they have been using similar technologies for many years. Larger commercial applications, such as monitoring for leaks from supermarket refrigeration equipment, utilises an infra- red source applied to a small sample of air that is vacuum pumped from the potential source of a leak and then analysed to see if any refrigerant gases are present. As it sounds, this is a costly and bulky technology that requires frequent maintenance.
The safety of occupants is not the only driving factor to consider leak detection. The cost of refrigerant gases has
36 June 2024 •
www.acr-news.com
experienced considerable increases in Europe over the last 12 months with the trend continuing to rise. Leakage of refrigerant in the system aff ects performance and has a negative impact on its life expectancy. Occupied spaces have generally been using semiconductor sensor technology to detect for air conditioning leaks. Whilst reliable, these have a short lifespan and require frequent calibration to ensure they function optimally. They are also prone to contamination and false alarms from other gases that may be present in the area. For example, being overzealous with hairspray or deodorant in an hotel room! A new generation of refrigerant gas detection technology
is now available on the market. Based on Molecular Property Spectrometry, this technology off ers a 15-year sensor head lifespan and requires no calibration during this time. These sensors are also immune to false alarms from other non-target gases. Being compact in size, generally the size of a single gang electrical socket, sensors are unobtrusive and have little impact on the aesthetics of a room. They provide audible and visual alarms for the occupants and can also be linked to central systems which allows multiple sensors to be monitored from a single location. Leak detection sensors can also signal certain parts of an AC system to isolate in the event of a leak saving gas and reducing the environmental impact.
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