In December 2020, the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act of 2020 was enacted. The legislation authorizes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to address harmful hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) by phasing down the production and consumption of HFCs, and facilitating the transition to next-generation refrigerants.
The HVACR industry is at the next phase — transitioning to A2L refrigerants. The controversy of A2Ls lies in their flammability potential, noted Jason Obrzut, director of industry standards and relations at ESCO. However, A2Ls have low toxicity and a lower flammability limit compared to older classes of refrigerant.
“Most A2L refrigerants are difficult to ignite,” he explained. “Common household items such as candles will not ignite an A2L refrigerant. It would need much higher concentration levels to do so. In the event of a fire, A2Ls are less likely to cause an ignition event to spread.”
Obrzut added that this new class of refrigerants must not be used for retrofit applications; they should be installed in new buildings only.
Technicians don’t need to fear A2Ls. However, they need to be aware of labeling and marketing requirements, such as the UL standards that require a label to be fixed on the refrigerant cylinder that must be filled out by the installing technician.
“If you use installation best practices today, you will have no difficulties in moving to these low global-warming-potential refrigerants,” he said.
