The F-Gas clock is ticking. Part 2 - Embrace the challenges facing VRF application and legal responsibility

In Part One I looked at the impending change to small Air Conditioning and Heat Pump systems which are to transition to Propane due to new legislative requirements.

Comfort Cooling systems above 12kW, specifically #vrf may well transition fully to #r32 for the short to mid-term. Some manufacturers are seemingly still resistant to this change. Regulation is still not clear (at time of writing potential changes to #pfas and #fgas are still undecided but imminent) so where does the manufacturer turn with regards to new product innovation? As recently as last year (2022), manufacturers were preparing us for the launch of new HFO Chillers. A simple Google News Search on “HFO Chillers” and “Propane Chillers” guides us to where the industry is now heading following potential PFAS intervention.

Society, politics and global government is not moving towards increased production of Chemical Refrigerants.

If we continue to believe that “VRF will not change” then we will get left behind. We can argue all we like about what country and who does what, but the direction for the intention of a proposed global greener future is clear.

If VRF does transition wholesale to R32 then, simply based on impending regulatory requirements, this transition may well be short-lived.

In addition to the legislative changes, in large scale R32 VRF systems the complexity of conforming to BS:EN378 and other safety standards doesn’t just require Leak Detection at point of design and installation (leak detection may not be required in all applications), it requires the incumbent contractor and operator to be responsible for the provision of detection in the future in applications such as CAT A to CAT B or small changes to future office layouts such as the partitioning from larger office areas to create other zone/s. This point alone is incredibly complex. The difference between leak detection requirement for sedentary/sleeping requirements with R410a systems and leak detection requirement for flammability with R32 systems is significant. It ceases to revolve solely around BS:EN378 and bring into play additional regulations and H&S Management.

As a decision maker, it is a confusing place to be.

• HFO Chiller last year
• Propane Chiller this year?
• R410a/R32 VRF today with what guarantee of refrigerant availability in 2040?

Do new R32 VRF systems with built-in Leak Detection comply with BS:EN378? That is an interesting debate in itself. How does this affect POL01 calculations and are there better alternatives?

What is the future for VRF?

Deciding on a large scale HVAC system for Hotels or similar needs to have a degree of certainty re performance, efficiency, serviceability and more for the foreseeable future. In my opinion, that is not an R410a, 40HP VRF with a 40 - 70kG Refrigerant Charge.

The beauty of VRF was it’s simplicity. Has this disappeared now that we have a combination of PFAS, F-Gas, BS:EN378, BREEAM etc?

I do believe that there is a solution already available. It is VRF but it is also better than VRF, it is potentially future-proof and it is available. It is also familiar and I think it is as Game-Changing as when we first adopted VRF in the 1990’s.

To be discussed in Part 3.