Safety regulations of refrigerants; Toxicity Vs Flammability
A brief look at FGas regulations and the different standards that can apply to products and systems that operate with HFCs or different refrigerants within domestic and non-domestic applications.
Did you know…
Two standards are applied to cover the safety regulations of refrigerants:
EN378:2016: the generic standard on refrigerants covering the toxicity of the refrigerant (class A or B)
IEC60335–2–40 (Ed.6): the specific heat pump product standard covering the flammability of the refrigerant (1, 2L, 2, 3)
How to get the most of a commercial system using R-32 under IEC60335–2–40 (Ed.6)
The product standard IEC60335–2–40 (Ed.6) specifies the following:
› The minimum room surface that needs to be respected, in function of the total refrigerant quantity of the system
› The measures that can be implemented to relax limitations on minimum room surface in relation to the system’s total refrigerant charge
Possible measures towards flammability
Manufacturers have the choice to implement zero, one or two measures:
› Ventilation (natural or mechanical)
› Shut-off valves
› Alarm (local and supervisor)
The true flexibility of a system is highly dependent on keeping the considerations needed to select, install and maintain a system to the minimum.
