​Energy efficiency in focus at Climalife event

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21 November 2019
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refrigerant refrigeration A2L f-gas air condtioning energy efficiency
Back, from left, Dave Richards (Climalife), Colin Anderson, Karl Roberts (both Bacharach), Neil Roberts (Chemours), Pawel Wisnik (Honeywell). Front, Bert-Jan Hermsen (Mobil Exxon), Allan Harper (Climalife), Peter Dinnage (Climalife) and Mark Hughes (Chemours)
A strong focus on the importance of energy efficiency and a rare opportunity to compare at first hand the respective offers of refrigerant heavyweights Chemours and Honeywell were among the highlights of the Climalife IDS Refrigeration customer event in Warwickshire.

Allan Harper, Managing Director of Climalife UK, welcomed over 70 contractors and distributors and said more challenges lay ahead in 2020 and 2021 with energy efficiency, climate change and F-Gas having a part to play in the choice of refrigerants in the future.
He said: “The objective of the event was to refocus on where we are now and to support our customers in the coming F-Gas challenges, by bringing together some of our suppliers who are considered to be leaders in their markets. Lower GWP refrigerants such as R448A, R449A and R513A have quickly established themselves in the market but we now need to step up the adoption of A2L refrigerants. Also important is the use of leak detection equipment, and suitable lubricants for equipment to ensure the efficiency of installed systems.’’

He urged against the installation of new equipment using higher GWP refrigerants, and described a recent experience when Climalife was looking to replace an HVAC system as part of an office refit at its Bristol HQ… and the quotes submitted were all for systems on R410A.

Climalife UK Technical Director Peter Dinnage Technical Director gave an update on F-Gas and details of the bans that apply from January for refrigerants with a GWP >2500 and the options available for end users that still have equipment running on the high GWP refrigerants. He said: “In three or four years, we’ll be saying ‘what was all the fuss about with A2Ls’, but we have to get there.’’

Pawel Wisnik, Honeywell senior application engineer, presented Honeywell’s A2L range for refrigeration and air conditioning, in particular Solstice L40X (R455A) and Solstice ze (R1234ze). He outlined why these products represent long-term solutions to build and operate safe and environmentally preferable systems for commercial refrigeration and air conditioning chiller applications.

Mark Hughes from Chemours gave an update on how the market is implementing the company’s A2L Opteon XL HFO blends, while colleague Neil Roberts talked about reducing climate change emissions in commercial refrigeration and said the very low GWP blends have the best combination of life cycle costs and emissions performance in commercial refrigeration.

Karl Roberts from Bacharach spoke about the importance of leak detection equipment for safety, legislative, environmental and economic reasons and Bert-Jan Hermsen from Exxon Mobil highlighted the areas where lubricants can impact a refrigeration system’s overall efficiency.

Dave Richards, Head of Sales for Climalife UK, presented details of other low GWP refrigerants in their range along with other energy saving heat transfer fluids, cleaning products and other components.
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