ACCA gives R466A a cautious welcome
The leading US air conditioning contractors’ association has described the development of a non-flammable replacement for R410A as “welcome news” but warned that flammables training must continue.
The Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA), which represents 60,000 professionals and 4,000 US businesses, was responding to yesterday’s news that Honeywell will introduce Solstice N41 (R466A) next year as a non-flammable alternative to R32 in air conditioning systems.
Association president and CEO Paul T Stalknech said today, “The development of a non-flammable alternative refrigerant is welcome news for contractors who have been concerned about the push to adopt flammable refrigerants without a strong focus on safety and contractor and technician training.”
However, he warned against complacency: “It is far too early to determine if R466A is a viable alternative for the residential marketplace. ACCA looks forward to receiving additional information and sharing input from the contracting industry about these developments.”
ACCA says it is committed to working with refrigerant producers and equipment manufacturers to foster the adoption of refrigerants that are non-ozone depleting and have low global warming potential.
“It will be a while before the industry considers adopting this potential alternative refrigerant because manufacturers and contractors need to know how it will perform in the field and study possible negative side effects on the application,” cautioned Glenn Hourahan, ACCA’s senior vice president of technical and engineering.
“Therefore, ACCA remains committed to working with our industry partners to ensure training is in place for products that are considered mildly flammable and have been recognised by much of the industry as viable alternatives to R410A,” he added.