HyChill Australia general manager, Mario Balen, has accused equipment manufacturers of engaging in a 'scare campaign' following the release of a global statement warning about the misuse of refrigerants in retrofits.
The statement, which is signed by industry associations across the globe including Australia, warned of the safety risks associated with the use of refrigerants in RAC equipment not specifically designed for their use.
In the statement the signatories call on industry to only use refrigerant in equipment where it has been approved by the original equipment manufacturer. It points out that equipment manufacturers choose refrigerants as part of overall equipment design.
However, Balen said the warning is simply an attempt by manufacturers to scare users away from searching for more efficient, environmentally safer and cheaper solutions, specifically natural refrigerants.
"The global synthetic industry giants are evidently becoming increasingly concerned about natural refrigerants encroaching on their monopolies and endangering their profits," Balen said.
"Following decades of tightly controlled markets with patent-protected, highly engineered, largely inefficient, often expensive and above all environmentally devastating refrigerants (think Freon or HFCs), they are concerned because natural refrigerants are making significant inroads into market segments that were once considered the exclusive reserve of synthetics."
The safety warning was published by CCN online under the heading "Retrofit fears leads to global warning about refrigerant misuse" and also appears in the current September edition of CCN magazine on page 32.
The statetment signatories include industry groups from Brazil, the United States, Australia, China, Europe, Canada, Japan and Korea.
Balen believes the statement is a strategy of scaremongering which attempts to alarm users and to make them fearful of retrofits. He points out that the statement was published without any supporting evidence.
"Just like original installations, retrofits must be compliant and adhere to safety, technical and performance rules and procedures," Balen said.
"To deny retrofits on the basis of preserving one’s commercial interests is unacceptable, cynical and deplorable."
When asked to respond to Balen's claims, a spokesperson for the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Equipment Manufacturers Association of Australia (AREMA), said the statement was issued in response to genuine safety concerns.
"The statement signatories are equipment manufacturers, not refrigerant manufacturers. We believe all refrigerants have their place when used appropriately but there are genuine safety concerns about refrigerants being used in systems not designed for their use," the spokesperson said.