Statements

ASERCOM has excellent industry and technology intelligence. On the basis of this knowledge ASERCOM expresses its opinions and recommendations on technology issues and current industry and regulatory developments in statements.

Statement on Ecodesign Regulation (EU) 2019/1781 for electric motors and variable speed drives (VSD): ASERCOM publishes recommendation for correct product information

Turkey’s Montreal Protocol team produced, in cooperation with UNIDO, an adaptation of our leaflet on illegal trade of refrigerants “Protect your business – buy refrigerants from safe sources”. The adapted brochure reflects the Turkish national situation and legislation and was also translated into Russian.

ASERCOM considers that technical appraisal issued by Bureau veritas in 2001 for condensing units in regard to the PED 97-23-EC is valid for the version 2014-68-EU as  the definition of assembly is the same.

The temptation is huge to play the role of an apprentice chemist in these times when the availability of refrigerants becomes an issue.

However, this has consequences from both a regulatory and a security point of view. (Source AFCE, France)

This leaflet gives a brief overview on the key criteria to distinguish safe sources from illegal ones and is designed to help you recognize illegal refrigerants.

Many of the lower GWP refrigerants are flammable, which needs to be taken into account to be able to deal with the consequences of the HFC phase-down.

The purpose of this statement is to outline the conditions and frames for usage of components in vapour compression circuits comprising flammable refrigerants. This statement covers components used in normal systems operating under normal conditions.

The new F-gas Regulation 517/2014 brought with it new requirements for the whole HVACR industry, as well as manufacturers and end-consumers. This statement describes the current market situation and provides a set of measures that are necessary to achieve the defined F-Gas targets.

The massive HFC phase-down step in 2018 and the Global Warming Potential (GWP) limit of 2500 in 2020 do not leave any choice: If contractors want to stay in business, they have to stop installing R-404A & R-507A.

Hydrocarbons have proven to be suitable refrigerants in several applications – regarding thermodynamics, reliability and safety. ASERCOM member companies have collected experience with their use in different fields and are engaged in standardization work to enable appliance and system manufacturers to use HCs as refrigerants in a safe way. This statement focuses on applications in European countries where uniform standards for flammable refrigerants are used with the exemption of some local peculiarities.

The HVACR industry faces significant product and technology changes. Most of our current products have to be qualified or redesigned to meet the very ambitious targets of the F-gas Regulation. This is a time and lab capacity consuming process without precedence in the industry. The flammability of the alternative refrigerants changes the landscape to a much larger extent than the change from CFCs to HFCs ever did.

Carbon dioxide (CO2)1 was one of the first refrigerants to replace early air cycle systems and was in use primarily for shipboard refrigeration in the beginning of the twentieth century. It was then superseded by chlorofluorocarbons. However, since CO2 is environmentally benign, non-toxic (in the classical sense), non-flammable, chemically inactive and offers a very high volumetric cooling capacity together with excellent heat transfer properties, it is increasingly considered for use today in RAC systems.

ASERCOM member companies are always concerned by any refrigerant leakages from systems and strive to work with partners to achieve the best possible system containment at all times. Leakages, in addition to impairing system performance can, in the case of HFC’s, have a direct effect on global warming, and in the case of other refrigerants can have a detrimental and possibly dangerous effect on the immediate environment.

ASERCOM has examined whether its members should affix the “CE marking” and issue the “EC Declaration of Conformity” with reference to the Electromagnetic Compatibility Directive – EMC.

ASERCOM members have been energy conscious for years. All developments are showing significant improvements in compressor energy efficiency. With regard to the demand of the KYOTO Protocol and related energy saving measures (e.g. EU ErP Directive 2009/125/EC) ASERCOM members contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions by continuing to work on further improvement.

The introduction of HFC refrigerants, which are not miscible with traditional mineral oil and Alkylbenzene lubricants, has created the requirements for Polyol ester (POE) lubricants. POEs have some inherent characteristics that require special attention when using the lubricant.

ASERCOM has examined the implications of the revised Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC (MD) regarding compressors and condensing units produced by ASERCOM members.

On May 29, 1997 the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union adopted Directive 97/23/EC on the approximation of laws of the Member States concerning Pressure Equipment (PED). This Directive has been recast on May 15, 2014 by the Directive 2014/68/EU on the same topic, which introduced substantial innovations in terms of classification of fluids, definition and obligations of the economic operators and applied changes to the conformity assessment procedures.

This statement provides common definitions of terminology and rating conditions for thermostatic expansion valves within the European refrigeration and air conditioning market.

The regulation EU2037/2000 gradually prohibits the use of HCFCs. Virgin HCFCs are already banned, and the use of recycled HCFC will finally be prohibited via a complete ban as of January 1st, 2015.