ACR Journal

December 2021 | January 2022 REFRIGERANTS 14 Neil Roberts, senior technical sales manager at Climalife, highlights why retrofitting refrigerants is no longer a simple process to prolong the life of a non-retail refrigeration system. The retrofit contingency Volume 8 No.1 Over the next few years, the F-Gas tonnes CO 2 equivalents (tCO2e) phasedown should strongly encourage the use of low GWP refrigerant options. However, when choosing a refrigerant, it is important to note that it will be very di cult to retrofit a system designed to use a high or moderate GWP A1 refrigerant to a very low GWP A2L or A3 safety class refrigerant. This means if the refrigerant of choice for a system installed today is not low GWP and comes under pressure due to the F-Gas tCO2e phasedown, within the next ten years, there is a real risk the equipment will have to be replaced with a system designed for a low GWP alternative. Various organisations have quoted many times that the average refrigerant GWP by 2030 will need to be around 400 and by 2036 around 300. In new equipment, the use of any refrigerant with a GWP significantly higher than these average values should be considered at risk of not fulfilling the expected or desired lifetime of the equipment. Of course, our industry has always been used to retrofit options to prolong equipment life, but this ‘escape road’ looks like it is now closed. Using theoretical cycle calculations and considering what current standards and regulations apply, we can explore how low GWP options compare and what is required to comply with those standards and regulations. Single compressor or non-retail commercial, remote condensing unit systems Under the F-Gas regulation (2014), since 2020 it has been forbidden to install new stationary refrigeration equipment (for a product temperature > -50°C) using a refrigerant with a GWP of 2500 or higher if Neil Roberts Figure 1 – Charge size restrictions under EN 378 for some non-flammable A1 refrigerants> Figure 2 – Charge size restrictions under EN 378 for R-290, R-454C and R-455A> the refrigerant charge size is 40 tonnes CO 2 equivalents (tCO2e) or higher (e.g. 10.2kg of R-404A). The EN 378 standard covers this application. This standard provides guidance on the maximum refrigerant charge that can be safely used and applies to all refrigerants, even non-flammable A1 refrigerants (Figure 1). Within EN378, refrigerants are treated di erently depending on their safety classification, with refrigerant charges increasing as the risk decreases. For example, whilst the maximum refrigerant charges for A2Ls are lower than for non-