Building and Maintenance
AC and refrigeration owners face tough new laws PDF Print E-mail
Written by Graeme Fox, Chairman of the HVCA's Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Group, 2008   

Owners of refrigeration and air conditioning equipment face serious penalties if they don't comply with a whole series of new regulations. But don't worry, you can turn this situation to your advantage, says Graeme Fox of the Heating and Ventilating Contractors' Association.

  • How can you ensure you're getting the best service from contractors?
  • What is the impact of poorly maintained equipment?

Many owners and operators of air conditioning and refrigeration plant are blissfully unaware of the serious implications to their businesses of the F-Gas and Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) Regulations that are now in force across the UK.

These, along with the revised Building Regulations and the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), place a heavy responsibility on owners and operators that was never there before.

Sadly, being unaware of your responsibilities will not prevent the government from imposing stiff financial penalties on anyone found to be in breach of these new rules, which were designed to improve energy efficiency and reduce damage to the environment from leaking global warming and ozone-depleting gases.

End-users have legal responsibility for these issues. You may try to pass on liability to your specialist contractor via cleverly worded service contract clauses, but ultimately if there is a problem, the authorities will be knocking on your door.

Plant owners must ensure that contractors retained to install, commission, service, maintain and decommission their equipment are properly qualified and able to show proof of competence.

You need to make sure they have, at least, the bare minimum qualifications: City & Guilds 2078 or CITB safe handling qualifications - these will cover you for HCFC refrigerants, such as the most popular one, R22, which come under the ODS Regulations.

If their qualification is less than five years old, it may also cover HFC refrigerants.

Getting the best service


The air conditioning and refrigeration industry is extremely fragmented and has a lot of very small firms - some are extremely competent, but a worryingly large number are not.

The lack of proper regulation, until this year, has allowed the less competent to get away with shoddy work that damages the environment and leaves their customers with poorly performing equipment.

Being able to prove your competence is now very important indeed and end-users must challenge their contractors to provide evidence.

So challenge the people who are working on your sites. What are their qualifications? Demand proof of competence.

Properly accredited companies have no problems with showing their credentials - in fact, most will welcome it as they are sick and tired of having to compete with the 'lowest price' contractors who charge less because they have not invested in skills and training and have no interest in ensuring their customers comply with the law.

You may discover you have been employing an incompetent firm for years and paying the penalty in energy and breakdown costs.

Ask to see their ACRIB card or their SKILLcard - and if they have one, ask to see the back because that is where you will find their competencies listed.

You should also check how up-to-date their qualifications are - there have been a lot of changes in the industry in recent years and engineers need to update their skills.

Check the REFCOM website. This voluntary register of companies competent to handle refrigerants will give you a guide to the most environmentally aware and professional companies, which could be extremely valuable if you are preparing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reports.

All end-users also have to have all their air conditioning plant inspected by accredited energy assessors.

This is one of the legal requirements imposed on the UK by the EU through the EPBD. All plant over 250kW capacity must have had its first inspection by January next year, with all other equipment to be inspected by January 2011. These inspections will then be repeated every five years.

Inspectors will make recommendations for energy efficiency improvements and, although the current regulations do not oblige owners to carry out these improvements, the next version of the regulations is likely to make this action mandatory.

Think strategically


A sensible strategy would be to link all of these regulatory requirements and have a competent contractor carry out all the necessary checks during their annual service visit.

You are already paying for these visits - even if it is just to have filters checked and cleaned - so why not make them work for you in the most cost-effective way by ensuring all the necessary checks are done and certificates issued at the same time?

Not only will this keep you on the right side of the new laws, it will also save you money in the short- and long-term by both reducing the amount of service visits and, if you take on board the expert advice, the running costs of your plant.

Leaking refrigerant reduces the operating efficiency of your equipment and drives up energy costs, so does poorly maintained equipment.

These inspections should check for loss of refrigerant charge as well as possible contamination of the refrigerant and flag up problems before they become serious and extremely expensive.

A leak of 15 per cent of your system's refrigerant charge can halve its operating capacity[1], meaning it has to run for double its design hours, which shortens its life and pushes up running costs.

High levels of moisture and acidity in the refrigerant, caused by carelessness during maintenance or as a result of leaks, will lead to acidic breakdown of the insulation on the motor windings.

Even relatively small amounts of moisture can lead to 'copper plating' - a condition that affects the reliability of the compressor and shortens the life of the system.

Too much water in the circuit will blow or block expansion valves within minutes; it also reduces the ability of the oil to lubricate the bearings leading to overheating and eventual breakdown.

Making the right choice


End-users also need to meet the requirements of the Building Regulations and contractors who are members of Competent Person Schemes and are approved to self-certify their own work.

This is the most cost-effective way to meet the Regulations as it means local authority building control departments do not need to make a physical visit to the site - the scheme operators ensure all the appropriate paperwork is carried out: another persuasive reason for using properly accredited firms.

Putting your plant in order and staying within the regulations should save you money in the long-run.

The extra initial costs for meeting the new regulatory regime should flag up where you have been wasting energy - something that is becoming a far more expensive commodity.

The regulators will be happy and so will the professional industry as we are determined that this new regulatory regime, far from being a burden, will raise standards right across our sector for everyone's benefit.

Reference
1. ETSU Good Practice Guide 178.

Graeme Fox is chairman of the HVCA's Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Group. Please visit www.hvca.org.uk
 
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