Hydrocarbon Refrigerants

DuMass

What’s old is new again.
So now that several hydrocarbon refrigerants have been approved under the EPA SNAP rules, I assume we will soon be seeing these used for resi and possibly further down the road for small commercial refrigeration units. The charge limits of 2.0 oz for resi equipment and 5.3 oz for commercial applications don’t seem to intimidating, but is anyone aware of any special handling requirements for these, specifically if regular recovery equipment and refrigerant charging practices can be used with them?
I’m hoping that RSES will issue a SAM update regarding use and handling of these hydrocarbon refrigerants.

Here is a recent article from Contractor Business magazine on the subject.
http://contractingbusiness.com/refri...214/index.html

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user2561

EPA has NOT approved any hydrocarbons for use with exception to INDUSTRIAL PROCESSING REFRIGERATION....all other uses of hydrocarbon refrigerants are illegal.

Do not follow information regarding refrigerants as pertaining to its legal parameters from any source other than the EPA. On the EPA website you can find all the info needed pertaining to both the SNAP program and hydrocarbons.

Any use of hydrocarbons in the consumer industry would be ludricous as it can be very explosive. Hydrocarbons have been widely used in Europe in small refrigeration where charge amounts are very small. Current US Underwriters Laboratory, building codes, and fire codes do not allow use of any flammable refrigerants for indoor applications w/o the proper safeguards.

DuMass

These two documents are directly from the EPA SNAP Regulations site. Looks like as of 02/21/12, they will indeed be acceptable for use in new equipment within the charge limits for both resi and commercial refrigeration equipment, so it’s probably only a matter of time before we will be seeing them.

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011...2011-32175.htm

http://www.epa.gov/ozone/snap/refrig...ct%20Sheet.htm

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