ACR Journal

Most of us in the industry accept that where a refrigerant is the most energy efficient then it should be used where possible, and it just so happens that R290 (propane) is a very efficient refrigerant in small duty applications in particular. However, any use of dangerous substances is covered by safety regulations, such as the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulation (DSEAR), which demands a risk assessment be carried out for any proposed installation using a product classified as hazardous. That includes all refrigerants, not just the flammable ones, but the risks being assessed are clearly much greater where the product contains highly flammable refrigerants – and it makes no sense at all to allow non-competent people to handle these potentially flammable products. REFCOM Elite Suppliers Last year I announced the REFCOM Elite Suppliers scheme - a voluntary code of conduct for suppliers run by REFCOM as the recognised and respected industry authority. It ensured that all those suppliers signed up were checking that their sales only went to those entitled to buy refrigerant or pre- charged split systems. It is essential that we prevent illegal sales of gas and equipment as this undermines the whole regulatory framework and by taking this stand on a voluntary basis, we are freeing up precious resource for the enforcing bodies – the Environment Agency, Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, Natural Resources Wales and Northern Ireland Environment Agency – to concentrate on the non-signed up sector, including the online sellers. Already signed up to this new scheme are: Logicool Air Conditioning & Heat Pumps, TF Solutions and Wolseley on the supplier side; and Fujitsu General, Mitsubishi Electric and Daikin on the manufacturer side – with others applying to join the scheme and currently putting the sales processes in place to allow our inspectors to audit them. A busy year but we’ve still got a lot of work to do. As always, the REFCOM and BESA Technical helplines are there for members to get advice and guidance. www.refcom.org.uk The Refrigerant Update ❘ 07