News Archive News 2010 Story

Archive News

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

Landlords need to plan R22 phase out

30/01/2010

From January 2010 building owners must incorporate the phase-out of the refrigerant R22 into the cost and scope of their building system plans.

In line with Federal Government legislation, only recycled or saved stocks of the refrigerant R22 can now be used as it will no longer be manufactured.

R22 is one of the hydro chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) which has enabled the phase-out of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), being more energy-efficient and low in toxicity that CFCs in comparison. But HCFCs still carry some ozone depletion potential (ODP) and so their phase-out has been occurring since 2002.

This latest stage of the phase-out will have significant impact on any building owner whose systems rely on the refrigerant, and the companies which service them, says Mr Mark Dredge, Building Energy Management Control Systems (BEMCS) Manager, Haden. The systems mainly affected are split systems, up to larger central plants.

Under the phase-out regulations (Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Act 1989), no more virgin R22 can be used in existing systems and are banned from 2015 even for existing systems.

The issues presented by the R22 phase-out for building owners include: