Mark Vender
Industry stakeholders have applauded a revised International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) safety standard that will allow larger charges of flammable refrigerants in household appliances such as air conditioners, heat pumps and dehumidifiers. In particular, it could open the way for greater use of hydrocarbons in residential air conditioning.
Standard IEC 60335-2-40 deals with the safety of electric heat pumps, including air conditioners, sanitary hot water heat pumps, and dehumidifiers incorporating motor-compressors and hydronic fan coil units. The standard has been the subject of much attention, as it is seen as a key enabler for greater uptake of low-GWP flammable refrigerants such as hydrocarbons.
The new edition of the standard allows the use of larger charges if additional mitigation measures, such as refrigerant sensors and circulation fans, are in place. It also introduces a new method for calculating maximum charge by taking into consideration design features that will prevent the escape of refrigerant.
Under the revised standard, a standard split-system air conditioner could now hold up to 988g of R290 (propane). Although that is not a significant change for the largest room size, it will see larger charges allowed for other room sizes, making it a potential game-changer for enabling the use of hydrocarbons in a wider range of air conditioning equipment and heat pumps.
Of course, this will require countries and manufacturers to adopt and follow the new version of the standard. But industry experts note that the updated IEC 60335-2-40 achieved a universal consensus from the IEC committee, boding well for widespread adoption.
“The new edition of IEC 60335-2-40 will enable R290 to be used in many AC and heat-pump systems which were previously blocked from using this refrigerant by the outdated version,” says Asbjørn Vonsild, the convenor of the IEC working group.
“This will enable a thousand-fold reduction in direct climate emissions compared with systems using R410A.”
Propane has a GWP of 3, compared to R410A’s GWP of 2,088, and R32’s GWP of 675 – hence the reference to a thousand-fold reduction for direct emissions. In terms of indirect emissions, many have underlined potential energy efficiency benefits of switch to hydrocarbons. It has been estimated that widespread adoption of hydrocarbons in the AC and heat pump sectors by 2025 could avoid more than 5 billion tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions globally by 2050.
The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), which has long campaigned for greater uptake of hydrocarbons as an alternative to synthetic refrigerants, has hailed the revised standard as a major step towards climate-friendly cooling.
“After urging governments and industry to address this issue for many years, EIA is delighted to see this critical milestone reached on the pathway to net-zero and clean sustainable cooling,” says EIA Climate Campaign Leader Clare Perry.
The EIA has also flagged concerns around synthetic alternatives to HFCs that, although having a low GWP, may produce harmful chemicals when they break down.
“The world is phasing out climate-harming hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) under the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol and we urgently need to adopt future-proof, cost-effective solutions such as propane so as not fall into the trap of buying into another F-gas industry ‘solution’ such as hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs), which are laden with environmental and human health concerns,” says Perry.
“With this new standard, we expect the European Parliament and EU member states to recognise that HFCs are no longer needed for a large portion of the air-con and heat pump market and to strengthen the recently proposed EU F-Gas Regulation accordingly.”
The standard is expected to be published on June 24. After that, it must be adopted into regional and national safety standards and building codes to take full effect.
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