Copper tube/aluminum fin (CTAF) coils are “the standard” to some, just as aluminum tube/aluminum fin (ATAF) coils are to others. Forty was reported to have seen many trends in his storied career, but he and the hvacr industry are about to experience a paradigm shift.
Many of Forty’s issues with maintenance difficulty and repair challenges with all-aluminum coils are non-issues with the other aluminum coil: the brazed aluminum microchannel (BAM) heat exchanger. This is very relevant today, because the Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI) rates and lists several nationally distributed BAM condensers, and 21-CR research by the Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Technology Institute (ARTI) into flat-tube BAM heat exchangers and applications with CO2 as a refrigerant are under way.