AREA, the refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump contractors association, has published a guide on equipment for low GWP flammable refrigerants.

The guide provides service technicians with a tool to understand the equipment that should be used to service refrigeration plants containing flammable low GWP refrigerants in category A2L (lower flammability) or A3 (higher flammability).

Alternative refrigerants to HFCs will be used increasingly as a result of the new EU F-gas Regulation and the probable future international phase-down of High Global Warming Potential Substances. Since many of these alternative refrigerants are flammable, it is important to ensure that service technicians use the right equipment to handle them safely.

Therefore, AREA has decided to issue a guide to provide service technicians with a tool for installation, maintenance and repair of future equipment containing flammable low GWP refrigerants. It complements the AREA Guidance on minimum requirements for contractors’ training & certification, which deals with competence of personnel.

The guide is the result of work undertaken by the AREA Task Force Low GWP Refrigerants. Marco Buoni, its chairman and vice-president of AREA, said: “Low GWP refrigerants will already be more widely used from this summer. It is part of AREA’s role to advise and assist service technicians both in Europe and worldwide so that they can handle these new systems safely.”

AREA guidance can be downloaded from the website at: http://www.area-eur.be/professional-guidance