This article was originally featured on ACHR News
Change is coming to the HVACR industry as state and federal regulations are being enacted that will lead to a phase down of high-GWP refrigerants such as R-410A. Unlike the R-22 phaseout, which saw the transition from one A1 refrigerant to another, some of the new refrigerants being proposed to replace R-410A in air conditioning equipment are lower flammability (A2L) refrigerants.
Because of this A2L designation, special features will be incorporated into the air conditioning equipment itself to ensure safe operation, per safety standard UL 60335-2-40, third edition. One of those features is the refrigerant detection system (RDS), which will be required for all systems in an occupied space that exceed a prescribed refrigerant charge limit. In a recent webinar (below), AHRI invited several RDS manufacturers to discuss these devices in more detail. READ MORE