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Refrigerants 101

4/13/2018

8 Comments

 
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Refrigerants 101

Our post this week is courtesy of Denis Livchak from Frontier Energy.  Denis is a refrigeration expert, and in his post below he explains the different types of refrigerants used in refrigeration systems, and why it's so important to pay attention to refrigerants.  

All refrigeration equipment contains refrigerant. Refrigerant is a substance that cools down the inside of the fridge or freezer by changing from gas to liquid and vice versa during a refrigeration cycle.  Although there are several properties of refrigerants, from an environmental perspective the most important ones are global warming potential (GWP), ozone depletion potential (ODP) and flammability. Why are ODP and GWP so important if the refrigerant stays inside the refrigeration system?  Because refrigeration systems leak.  These leaks may occur through refrigerant piping contraction/expansion at different welds. through system recharging, or during disposal.

Federal regulations have tried to minimize global warming and ozone depletion through mandating refrigerants that are more environmentally friendly with low GWP and ODP potential. Older refrigerants that are currently being phased out include R12 (also known as freon) and R22.  These refrigerants have GWP values of 10,900 and 1,810 and ODP values of 0.82 and 0.06, respectively. The rule of thumb with GWP and ODP values is the higher the number, the worse it is for the environment. Nowadays these refrigerants are quite rare.  Most modern refrigerants are zero ODP, however refrigeration units older than 20 years may still use R12 or R22. Most modern lab-grade freezers use R404A refrigerant, which has a GWP of 3,920.  Ultra-low temperature freezers also use R508B as the secondary refrigerant, which has a GWP of 13,396.

Natural refrigerants are the most environmentally-friendly option.  Natural refrigerants include propane (R290), CO2 (R744) and ammonia (R717), and all have zero ODP and almost zero GWP.  So why are we not using natural refrigerants in our equipment? There are drawbacks to each of the three: propane is flammable, CO2 requires very high pressure piping, and ammonia is poisonous. With technological advancements, refrigeration engineers have been able to minimize the risks associated with each type of refrigerant. The most prevalent natural refrigerants in laboratory refrigeration are propane (R290), and ethane (R170) for ultra-low temperature applications. By using small quantities of refrigerant, manufacturers have been able to minimize the potential flammability of the system while drastically reducing the global warming potential of refrigeration systems. Manufacturers are also required to perform safety testing to demonstrate that even a large leak of refrigerant in the freezer will not cause a fire.  Energy testing has also proven that freezers with natural refrigerants consume significantly less energy.

If you are not sure what kind of refrigerant your freezer uses, try checking the nameplate - it should be clearly labeled on there.   And if you find that it's time to upgrade to a freezer with natural refrigerants, make sure you use an EPA-certified refrigerant reclaimer when disposing of the old unit.
8 Comments
Israel
6/4/2019 12:46:06 pm

1. What gas has the fastest cooling rate between R600a, R717, R290, R744, R170 and R508?
2. From 1 above which is the safest?
Thanks, need urgent reply before placing order

Reply
gasNtools link
8/13/2019 10:57:00 pm

Thanks for providing guidance to choose the best refrigerant for various applications. It helps me to choose the right refrigerant.

Reply
Nirmal Khanna link
4/3/2020 09:58:02 pm

Very useful post regarding refrigerator gas leakage issues. Automatically gas leakage is a different issue but there are times when people clear the chiller box with knife and spoon which damages the box and gas leaks out. I work in Whirlpool service center and this post was extremely useful to update ourselves. Thank you.

Reply
Patrick Ross link
6/17/2020 06:27:58 am

It's good to know that refrigerant cools the inside of a freezer. My sister wants to make sure that she can store things at the right temperature soon. I'll share this information with her so that she can look into her options for cool rooms that can help with this.

Reply
Manik link
9/12/2020 03:40:46 am

Good points..

Reply
Adam Golightly link
9/17/2020 02:30:03 pm

I liked what you said about how environmentally safe refrigerants can minimize the risks and reduce the global warming potential. I can see how a business could really benefit from getting the right equipment and making sure that things stay the right temperature. It could be really useful for them to get some refrigerant from a professional and get it certified.

Reply
Ratan Kumar link
10/9/2020 04:43:02 am

Gas leakage is a common issue in refrigerator. I have worked for many years in lg service center and my experience tells that aged copper tubes are the main reason for gas leak. It can be repaired by a technician. Really this is a good post and I enjoyed reading it. Thanks a lot.

Reply
Commercial Hvac Hamilton link
10/29/2020 10:41:09 pm

Here we get to know about refrigerants 101 information in detail. It helps us to decide that which one is best among its types. I enjoyed reading this article and would suggest others it as well. Thank you for this article! This is really very informative for us.I must say this, if you get time can visit Comfortgroup.co.nz for ideas on this topic.

Reply



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  • About
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