Page 16 - Climate Control News September 2021

Split systems targeted
for end-of-life recovery
MORE THAN 100 CONTRACTORS HAVE PARTICIPATED IN A RESEARCH PROJECT TO GET FACTUAL DATA ON CHARGE SIZES, LEAKAGE RATES AND REFRIGERANT LOSS DURING THE RECOVERY PROCESS IN SPLIT SYSTEMS AT END OF LIFE.
systems account for more than 80 per cent of to- tal installed equipment,” he said.
“Despite the size of the domestic and light commercial air conditioning market factual data regarding charge sizes, leakage rates, and operational longevity were elusive, not just in Australia but globally.”
As part of the project an App was created for both Apple and Android devices.
Participating contractors downloaded the App and provided data during the deinstallation process.
They provided information on installation type, refrigerant details, initial refrigerant charge quantity and recovered refrigerant charge quan- tity. A total of 1,152 datasets were analysed.
Of the 1,152 systems completed 600 contained R22 (52 per cent), 494 contained R410A (43 per cent), and 58 contained R32 (five per cent).
The average initial charge sizes are displayed in Figure 5.
Breaking down loss and retention to the re- frigerant level provided an unexpected result: the loss rate for R22 systems appears to be less than that for R410A systems.
The transition to R410A was not simply done by
RRA now has factual data on the refrigerant recovery process in split systems.
FINDINGS FROM THE project which was undertaken by Refrigerant Reclaim Australia are covered in a study released this week entitled Fugitive Emissions: The case for improving refrigerant re- covery from split systems at end-of-life.
The study found that if the rate of recovery isn’t improved more than a million tonnes of CO2 could be needlessly emitted annually.
Australia’s refrigerant bank is dominated by refrigerant in stationary air conditioning equip- ment with R410A, R32, R407C, and R22 making up more than 60 per cent of the installed bank.
Study author, Michael Bennett, said in the last 15 years R410A has replaced R22 in the market- place and now R32 is making rapid inroads.
“A deeper dive into the data reveals that split
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