The ongoing approval process to bring online an innovative approach to dealing with refrigerants that have reached the end of their useful life has taken another step forward.
As the world of refrigeration moves away from traditional CFCs and HCFCs toward more environmentally friendly alternatives, the use of ammonia refrigerants has been gaining in popularity and trending upwards.
Have you worked with R-407A in refrigeration jobs? The mechanical design company Henderson Engineers Inc. (HEI) of Kansas City has in such a project where it was given the task by a major retailer to improve the carbon footprint of a supermarket refrigeration system.
While the word “refrigerant” isn’t normally the first thing one thinks of when Thailand is mentioned (can you say “Pad Thai” or “Tom Yum soup”?), interestingly the two intersected at an event.
When mechanical refrigeration came along, refrigerants such as sulfur dioxide and ammonia and the fluorocarbons were introduced. The latter two — ammonia and f-gases — are still being used. Of the fluorocarbons, the choices were pretty simple: CFCs -11, -12, and -502. It is not so simple these days.
The patent-pending VaporVue is a visible vapor charging device that absorbs heat naturally and flashes the liquid refrigerant from the cylinder and charges into the system as a vapor.
Warren Heeley, president of Refrigerant Management Canada (RMC), announced the implementation of a disposal fee for CFC-11 refrigerant entering the extended producer responsibility (EPR) program.
The use of R-744 (carbon dioxide/CO2) as a refrigerant in HVACR applications has been gaining attention. But it faces installation and servicing challenges for technicians familiar with fluorocarbon refrigerants.