Different Refrigerants For The HVAC Trade

Matthew Showers is an HVAC service technician, performing work in each the residential and business fields.  His specialty is in inverter and speaking methods.  Observe Matt on Instagram 

As environmental laws change, producers of HVAC gear are being pressured to search out refrigerants that aren’t solely environmentally protected, but in addition carry out nicely in a wide range of purposes and are usually protected for technicians.  Many people within the trade at the moment witnessed the change from R22 to R410a in the course of the 2000s and 2010s, and now with R22 being phased out of manufacturing, environmental businesses of countries are in search of additional reductions in refrigerants with a excessive International Warming Potential (GWP), particularly in North America.  It solely looks as if a matter of time earlier than R410a faces the identical chopping block that R22 did.  What are the options within the coming years? And what are different locations, equivalent to Europe and Asia, doing now?

Puron Advance (R-454b)

https://www.service.com/residential/en/us/information/news-article/carrier_introduces_puron_advance_the_next_generation_refrigerant.htmlIn December of 2018, Service introduced the creation of what they name Puron Advance.  As some might recall, Service was the corporate who spearheaded the creation of R410a, patenting the identify Puron, again within the Nineteen Nineties.  At the moment, there may be little data on R-458b, because the press launch is the one supply right now.  What is understood is that its GWP is 466, which is considerably lower than R410a’s score of two,088.  This refrigerant is slated to look in Service’s product line beginning in 2023.

R-454B On The Danfoss RefTools App

R32

R32 is at the moment being utilized by quite a few producers, notably Daikin and LG.  Most, if not all, of us working within the discipline are already considerably aware of R32, because it makes up half of the composition of R410a.  The distinction is that R410a additionally consists of R125 as a flame suppressant.  R32 has comparable working pressures as R410a however delivers barely extra capability.  Additionally, due to its increased efficiency issue, much less refrigerant is required within the gear to realize their rated capacities.  Its GWP score is 675.

R32 On The Danfoss RefTools App

The principle “challenge” with the options listed right here is the flammability facet.  Many of those decrease GWP refrigerants have the next flammability classification, sometimes A2 or A2L, which implies reasonably flammable.  R410a has a classification of A1, which is non-flammable. Right here in the USA, the EPA has its SNAP (Vital New Alternate options Coverage) program, aimed toward additional decreasing emissions but in addition holding security in thoughts (https://www.epa.gov/snap/snap-regulations). For that reason, some refrigerants which have a superb efficiency issue are restricted of their purposes.  This consists of the extremely flammable (A3) refrigerants propane (R290) and isobutane (R600a), that are at the moment utilized in small refrigeration home equipment.

R466A

This refrigerant, developed by Honeywell, is listed individually as a result of its classification is A1. Additionally launched in 2018, this refrigerant consists of R32 (49%), R125 (11.5%), and R1311 (39.5%).  It has the same efficiency issue to R410a and was developed as a extra direct alternative of R410a in new gear.  In comparison with an R410a system cost, gear would want roughly 10-15% extra refrigerant to satisfy its present efficiency rankings.  Honeywell can be contemplating retrofit purposes in present R410a methods. Its GWP score is 733. (https://www.achrnews.com/articles/143923-nonflammable-alternatives-to-r-410a)

R466A On The Danfoss Reftools App

What does all this imply?  Within the coming years, as these refrigerants begin being launched in gear, it will likely be helpful to know what refrigerants we will anticipate to see and the way greatest to deal with them. Simply as technicians wanted to regulate their practices in the course of the transition from R22 to R410a, those that are newer to the sphere will even be pressured to be diligent in making certain what refrigerant they’re coping with.

Matthew Showers

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