Banning pre-charged split systems

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Banning pre-charged split systems

I've had a busy period recently, not only for my business, but in my voluntary roles with HVCA and AREA. We've recently had the AREA Autumn General Assembly in Brussels, closely followed by the Commission's F Gas Review Expert Group meeting, immediately followed by the Chillventa trade show in Nurnberg, Germany.

In preparation for the expert group meeting, and the general discussion on the failings of F Gas, AREA have been proposing various ways of improving containment of gases, effectiveness of the regulation and preventing the cowboy installers getting hold of the products in the first place.

One of the biggest problems we face as an industry is that, no matter what measures we take to tighten up buying procedures through reputable wholesalers, there is always the availability of small single split systems through DIY outlets or the internet. As a contractor I am frequently contacted by people who have bought these systems on the cheap, attempted to install it themselves and then called me out to "fix it". In most cases they have opened the valves without evacuating the pipes, let alone properly pressure tested them, or they have opened the valves without tightening the flare nuts resulting in total loss of refrigerant.

Not only does this type of thing give our industry a bad name (because people falsely believe they can get an effective air conditioning unit for peanuts and get a shock when they have to pay our rates for repairing the damage) but it also does the environment no favours.

AREA has recently proposed a ban on pre charging of split systems. Because only properly qualified people can buy bottles of gas, then only properly qualified people will be able to put the systems to work - no matter where they are bought. Be honest, when you are evacuating the pipes and indoor units it will take only a few minutes more to evacuate an already uncontaminated outdoor unit. And what we are proposing isn't any different to what we already do with refrigeration systems that come with a small holding charge of dry nitrogen to protect the coils and system oil.

There are other benefits to this move that I won't go into here - you can check the full AREA position paper on our website www.area-eur.be - but we do believe it ticks a lot of boxes where the loopholes in the F Gas Regulation are concerned.

We would welcome comments from other stakeholders though, so please comment on this blog whether in favour or against this move - all constructive comments will be taken into account when we next meet with the Commission and their consultants so now's your chance to have your say.

Graeme Fox is an RAC contractor based in Dundee. He is a director at AREA (Air Conditioning & Refrigeration European Contractors` Association) and a Fellow of the Institute of Refrigeration.

Posted by Graeme Fox 02 November 2010 09:41:51 Categories: Fox's Tales

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Comments

By Kenneth Duckett

02 November 2010 09:55:51

And there lies the problem.

The Installers do not see it and do not want to understand why it is all necessary. And that is why the manufacturers have to make the changes necessary to prevent installers (the ones that do a poor job, anyway) from taking on a braze install or trying to get fridge from a distributor wit5hoiut the minimum quals.

By PJ

02 November 2010 09:54:51

Reading all the comments i found no real reason to ban pre charged AC's.

If anything should be banned it is the cheap china Capacitors which fail each year.

PJ

By Graeme Fox

02 November 2010 09:53:51

Thank you to all those who have taken the time to comment so far - it is heartening to read that the AREA proposals are so well received.
A couple of comments though in response:
Regarding the cans of single use car A/C top up of R134a and the plumber's using R134a: I totally agree and AREA, along with national RAC institutions, is communicating these issues directly to the decision makers nationally and internationally
Regarding flared connections: I totally agree. There is no need for these fittings to still be in use. Brazing stubs should be fitted in the factory. Daikin have done this for their flammable gas heat pump systems, why not do the same for all their systems?
Regarding the use of "fool proof one shot couplings": if these were indeed fool proof then this may not be an issue. However, my own company was asked to attend a "problem" unit which wasn't working very well at a local factory. The owners had bought 2 high wall units via the internet and installed them themselves less than a foot from the floor underneath the board room windows. They wondered why the systems made their feet cold! Now that the "fool proof one shot" couplings had been used, what do you think happened to the gas in the systems when the factory maintenance man disconnected them? I sympathise with the sentiments but in reality even a "fool proof" coupling isn't always going to be good enough for some of the idiots installing these cheap and cheerful systems.
If you want a job doing properly - employ a professional!

By Adrian Crask, Engineering Sale Manager, AFR Ref

02 November 2010 09:52:51

We sell Zanotti pre-charged refrigeration split systems for freezers / chillers mostly with 5m pre-charged lines and fool-proof couplings ONLY to bona fide contractors. Sometimes these systems provide the only practical solution to an engineering problem and banning the sale of them would creat a void. Although they are simple systems, they are critically charged and therefore use less gas than a comparable TEV / Receiver system. It would not be in the industries interests to prevent the sale of this type of equipment to the trade.

By Graham Jordan

02 November 2010 09:51:51

Everyone speaks as if the problems with pre-charged splits is a new one. I can say first hand that it has been around for 30 years. Originally it was the one shot couplings and now it is a whole variety of other problems. The common denominator thoughout is the installer. If the installer has no refrigeration training, then he only has himself to blame. I would certainly have no qualms about charging top dollar to get him out of trouble, and I certainly don't think it get the industry a bad name.

Of course, there are pre-charged systems with "fool-proof" one shot couplings. I see absolutely no reason that their sales should be restricted.

By Steve Williams

02 November 2010 09:50:51

The proposals put forward by AREA are excellent and long overdue. The restrictions will go a long way to tightening up an industry that has long sufferred from the effects of the yee hah, horse riding installer!

By Charles

02 November 2010 09:49:51

I would like to know why plumbers can release hfc gases using the cans of "Pipe Freezing Spray" as purchased from DIY stores to freeze pipes but for refrigeration engineers it is banned? An institute of refrigeration member had it tested and confirmed it is R134a !!

By Kenneth Duckett

02 November 2010 09:48:51

And there lies the problem: costs and standard of living.

In the EU (gosh, we are in the EU aren t we), we are not so much worried about there being a lack of qualified installers. In fact, that is the VERY TARGET of these measures, to restrict the installers to only-qualified ones. This measure would squeeze the non-qualified ones to get qualified, or push them out of the industry. That is the whole point of banning fridge and flares in the kit, and very much a needed and wanted for our F-Gas regs. We do not want unqualified people anywhere near refrigerant.

The manufacturer should be able to put a holding charge of nitrogen into their kit without any real problems. They will be testing with nitrogen anyway, so it really would be no problem at all. They just lower the testing pressure rather than evac. A nitrogen holding charge should be cheaper than kilograms of refrigerant, so that material cost should be cheaper. Soldering off the pipe ends is dead easy, and cheaper for them than fitting flares. So manufactures should have no real price rises. There might even be a reduction.

As for the customer having to pay more and more for the labour to install/service/maintain these systems, that is never important here. It is not a factor at all. It appears a calloused attitude to the customer s overheads, and thus the cost of living for the person in the street, who has to bear all of this, eventually, BUT if one wants to protect the atmosphere, you protect the atmosphere ..not something else.

Maybe fewer offices would be able to afford the higher cost of aircon for their comfort. Maybe heatpumps would be more expensive with less sales. That is not anything to do with protecting the planet, assuming that is the purpose of all of this.

It is one of those many things in the world that looks oh so hard and difficult to confront ahead of the crisis but afterwards after the crisis finally hits, fully in hindsight, those earlier measures were far easier than the really drastic measures required afterwards. (BP could give a perfect example of this kind of thing.)

If the global warming really is true (we have to assume it is), then there really is no logic in protecting the style of living now, if the planet will be unable to support life as we know it in say 100-150 years. Well, not unless we have another planet on hand that we can transfer to.

By Phil Ross

02 November 2010 09:47:51

I am the Editor of a similar publication to ACR News in Australia and I am publishing the AREA recommendations in our December issue.

The AREA people asked if Australia had followed any of their recommendations. FYI Here is what I replied:
There was big discussions in Australia during the late 90s/early 00s regarding legislating split systems to be precharged with nitrogen to save two problems: illegal installations by unskilled people and having unintended leakage of ODP gases. A side benefit would mean that better controls could be maintained on the importation of CFCs/HCFCs.

It never got passed for two reasons: Australia imports most of its precharged systems but is a small percentage of a manufacturers global market and they would find the cost of precharging a small amount of units with nitrogen was too prohibitive. Plus it was felt that the labour market was struggling to have enough tradespeople to install the systems as it was and to add the extra barrier of technical skill in vacuuming and charging plus the extra time to install would lead to a large black market/shortage in installation. Leading to danger to the public, the environment and to the technician called in to repair any bad initial installation.

By Kenneth Duckett

02 November 2010 09:46:51

Lets not loose the focus here. Just ban refrigerant and flares on fridge kit and you have won the race.

That alone would do the trick, as the kit can then only be installed by the qualified ones.

By CLIFFORD HOWE

02 November 2010 09:45:51

amazing some common sense at last to protect not only the industry but also jobs of qualified air conditioning and refrigeration engineers I would go a step further and make the minimum qualification to handle refrigerants at least NVQ2 IN OUR INDUSTRY AND NOT JUST A WEEK LONG COURSE.

By Paul Icough

02 November 2010 09:44:51

Couldn't agree more. I am a contractor and have plans to sell split systems online next year, however, the refrigerant will be removed. The end user can carry out the majority of the installation if he so wishes to save a small amout of money, but will need a qualified engineer to complete the commissioning.
On a similar note, why do we still see the use of flare connectors on small systems, why can't we have a stub to directly braze to?

By geoffrey watson inquiries@ car-air-con.co.uk

02 November 2010 09:43:51

While I and most in the industry acepte this must happen for all the right reasons. The same ban must cover all cans of refrigeration which certain organisations and persons are exploting a loop hole no unqualifed personanal should be able to buy or have access to refrigeration full stop cans or otherwise or all the F-Gas regs are a wast of time as the good guys will apply them the rest will and are having a good laugh at our expence.

By Kenneth Duckett

02 November 2010 09:42:51

About time. (Even a young child could have seen the shortfalls with the hitherto efforts to control the use of refrigerants.)

At least in this way one can simply police the refrigerant distributors, who will be only too glad to hold the line.

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