ACR Journal

5 roll forward into 2021 and 2022 greater change is on the way. In 2021 there’s the next stepdown in the F-Gas quota when virgin refrigerant availability will drop by another 29 per cent, on a CO 2 equivalent basis, taking the industry down to 45 per cent of the 2015 baseline level. In 2022 the bar for the use of virgin HFCs is raised even higher when the threshold drops from 2500 to 150 GWP for hermetically sealed equipment and multipack centralised refrigeration equipment above 40kW. This will really ramp up the pressure on the industry. This year saw the major refrigerant suppliers saying goodbye to virgin R404A. The good news is that reclaimed R404A can be used up until 2030, regardless of the charge size, and this is now a standard stock item within our branch network. It is not all doom and gloom for our industry. If users continue to move to the next generation refrigerants our market can still continue to grow. New blends are emerging and with a GWP as low as 4 they appear to be viable alternatives to R404A. As the industry moves towards using alternative refrigerants a different approach and new ways of working need to be adopted by the contractor. As a leading distributor of refrigeration and air conditioning products, Wolseley are here to help you navigate the F-Gas maze and make switching refrigerants simple. The RAC Engineer’s Guide to Low GWP Refrigerants