MechChem Africa February 2019

⎪ Heating, cooling, ventilation and air conditioning ⎪

deliberately ignited with a flame. “It is currently quite expensive, though. R1234YF costs around R2 500 to R3 000 per kg, compared to R134a costs of only R100 to R150 per kg,” he notes. All imported cars arenowbeingfittedwith HFO-based systems and A-Gas is already supplying these modern refrigerants to the local OEMs manufacturing for export mar- kets. “We also supply them into the high-end aftermarket to dealers servicing imported vehicles,” he says. When asked about the adoption of air conditioning and chiller systems that incorporate modern refrigerants and tech- nologies, Labacher says contractors and end users still need to be educated to take the long-term view. “To contractors, costs of refrigerants and systems govern their choices. They tend to choose the cheapest gas possible so as to deliver the most com- petitive quote to customers. “Because HFOs are much higher effi- ciency refrigerants, systems that use them are much cheaper to run, which is a huge benefit to end users and owners. Systems are often not sold on energy or lifecycle costs, though, particularly in tight economic times. We are strugglingwith this, trying to train the whole industry to take a longer term view, for the benefit of their own pockets and the

The A-Gas family of R134a refrigerants are chlorine and ozone depletion free. These are now also out of favour because of their relatively high global warming potential (GWP). New variants of HFO refrigerants such as HFO 1234YF with a GWP or less than 1.0 are now commonly used in Europe.

Europe, supermarkets and commercial building

environment,” Labacher says. Case studies fromthe twoprinciplemanu- factures of HFOs, Honeywell and Chemours, suggest that the payback period on these moreexpensive refrigerants is very short, less than two to three years. “And if installed cor- rectly andwell maintained to keep them leak free, these HFOs can keep a system running efficientlyfor10to15years–andevenlonger in South Africa,” he says. “End users need to be better informed about the real value of both efficient mod- ern systems and good maintenance. In

owners are starting to leave the ownership and maintenance responsibility in the hands of refrigeration contractors. They then buy chilling as a service, based on COP data,” Labacher tells MechChem Africa . “This model ensures the contractor is in- centivised toadopt themost efficient and reli- able solution possible to enable both parties to obtain the most value from the asset. We have some way to go before that can happen here, but it may be a good way to pick up our standards again,” he concludes. q

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