Greens are celebrating that the US EPA has raised the quantity of cheap highly flammable climate friendly refrigerants which can be used in home appliances.
Trump’s EPA Backs a Climate Change Tweak Environmentalists Like
By Eric Roston
29 November 2017, 04:14 GMT+10
The Trump administration took a small step toward addressing climate change last week — it just didn’t put it quite in those words.
Without fanfare — or even a public announcement — the Environmental Protection Agency issued an arcane rule that allows refrigerator and air-conditioner manufacturers to increase the amount of three cooling chemicals they can use safely. In a twist, the change was welcomed by manufacturers that want to adapt and use chemicals that would cause less global warming.
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Home refrigerator makers in particular now have the EPA’s authorization to phase out the use of HFCs, replacing them with a hydrocarbon called isobutane. Having the rule in hand frees manufacturers to go ahead with their phaseout plans without needing the Kigali Amendment ratified in the Senate, according to Messner.
The EPA rule raises what the agency considers the safe levels of hydrocarbon coolants. The rule is confined to refrigerators and air conditioners, because car AC systems might release inflammable chemicals during an accident.
“There are accidents,” said David Doniger, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Climate and Clean Air Program. But “your home refrigerator is not going to run into another refrigerator at 30 miles per hour.”
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The new EPA ruling is available here.
It is possible using more iso-Butane in a home fridges is not a big deal – the EPA ruling specifies a charge limit of 57g (2 ounces) of iso-Butane – not a lot of flammable gas. But the EPA is concerned enough about the flammability of iso-Butane to specify that it should only be used in new fridges.
From the EPA ruling;
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EPA previously found isobutane, propane, and R-441A acceptable, subject to use conditions, in new household refrigerators and freezers. In the proposed and final rules, EPA provided information on the environmental and health properties of the three refrigerants and the various substitutes available for use in household refrigerators and freezers. Additionally, EPA’s risk screens for the three refrigerants are available in the docket for these rulemakings (EPA–HQ–OAR–2009–0286 and EPA–HQ–OAR–2013–0748).
Isobutane, propane, and R-441A have an ASHRAE classification of A3, indicating that they have low toxicity and high flammability. The flammability risks are of concern because household refrigerators and freezers have traditionally used refrigerants that are not flammable. In the presence of an ignition source (e.g., static electricity, a spark resulting from a closing door, or a cigarette), an explosion or a fire could occur if the concentration of isobutane, propane, and R-441A were to exceed the LFL of 18,000 ppm, 21,000 ppm, and 20,500 ppm, respectively.
To address flammability, EPA listed the refrigerants as acceptable, subject to use conditions, in new household refrigerators and freezers. The use conditions address safe use of flammable refrigerants and include incorporation by reference of Supplement SA to UL Standard 250, refrigerant charge size limits, and requirements for markings on equipment using the refrigerants to inform consumers and technicians of potential flammability hazards. Without appropriate use conditions, the flammability risk posed by the refrigerants could be higher than non-flammable refrigerants because individuals may not be aware that their actions could potentially cause a fire, and because the refrigerants could be used in existing equipment that has not been designed specifically to minimize flammability risks.
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3. The charge size must not exceed 57g (2.01 ounces) in any refrigerator, freezer, or combination refrigerator and freezer in each circuit;
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What makes me uncomfortable is the only reason I can think of for switching from non-toxic non-flammable CFCs to highly flammable iso-Butane is pressure from the green lobby, and maybe some cost savings. The rules have been changed just a little in a way which puts convenience and political correctness ahead of consumer safety.
There is another potential issue. If everyone follows the rules, 2oz of flammable gas may not be a big deal – though the stipulation that the iso-Butane only be used in new fridges is intriguing. But with cheaper iso-Butane on the market, how long will it be until corner cutting refrigeration technicians start charging old fridges with cheaper iso-Butane?
You must be a lobbyist for dupont or another refrigerat producer, its a known fact that if a propane or isobutaine unit leaks into a closed refrigerator the air to gas mixture is to low to ignite, they have been used in Europe for years , tell me about a fire ….. lol . [PRUNED.]
Eric obviously does not like refrigeration technicians. History lesson here. When r 12 was phased out in 1994 environmentally friendly refrigerant blends were introduced to replace the r12 in the systems so they could run until the end of their service life. One of those blends was r409. Which has propane as part of the blend. I have serviced and recharged systems with POUNDS of this refrigerant without issue. Two ounces in a residential fridge does not scare me, nor should it scare you. What should is when DuPonts patents on this new refrigerant expire and we do this all again and have to buy new equipment rather than service the old due to cost of refrigerant. By the way r409 was phased out in 2010 since it also contained r 22.
Sorry, my upset at this is over the fact that the EPA has any say whatsoever on what refrigerants I can use. As for flammability, I have a 1,000 gallon tank of propane buried in my yard. It is piped into my house and burned at my stove top for cooking, in my water heater for heating water, and in my furnace for heating the house. Two of those items, the water heater and furnace, rely on automation to ensure that the house doesn’t explode. So far, so good. The third, my stove top, relies on me to ensure that the spark igniter actually worked and I’m not pumping gas out into the kitchen. So far, a mixed record. I’ve actually left it on for quite some time when the spark igniter failed. But I know enough about propane combustion to know when it’s safe to light.
We go through about 2,100 gallons of propane a year. That’s over 10,000 pounds of propane pumped into my house, enough to charge the entire 200,000 cubic foot volume of the place to 21,000 ppm more than 4 times. The thing that riles me the most about this article is that the EPA sets a charge limit of 57 grams on a (hermetically sealed) refrigerator unit due to “flammability” “concerns.” That’s 0.026 pounds, or 387,000 times less propane than is pumped into my house annually, for the sole purpose of being burned.
I am a Federal regulator. I work for the Federal Aviation Administration. And this sounds to me like the sort of thing I see every single day, namely, some bozo who has no connection to the real world save through a computer using the very formidable reigns of power given him to smack down one of the proles outside of the beltway who are, in his view, reckless ignorami who must be restrained for their own good.
Back when I was flying the 727, we had a halon fire extinguisher in the cockpit, but it was more important to save the penguins from the ozone hole than to put out a fire in the airplane, so they took them out. We also had a windscreen rain repellent called RainBoe (Boeing, get it?) that helped us see the runway when landing in storms. Buuuut, it too contained a CFC, so adios. That’s why you might have seen a pilot at the gate hanging out the side window rubbing Rain-X on the windscreen.
Halon was also the fire extinguisher of choice in Dodge vans. That application survived the ozone hole purge, because everybody loved Van Halon..
Totally agree, I’ve been witness of all kind of wrong procedures with no flammable refrigerant, i don’t want to imagine what can happen with those.
I doubt it was the refrigerant, but the plastic back of the reefer:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4634612/Video-shows-British-style-fridge-flames.html
I’m amazed an the number of people claiming hydrocarbon refrigerants are not a problem. No one has thought to look at the data.
Hydrocarbon refrigerants have been used in the UK for a few years. Turns out a fairly common incident is to have a slow leak in the evaporator coil inside a closed refrigerator. The hydrocarbon build up and eventually on of two things happens. If you’re lucky, the thermostat clicks and set off and explosion throwing the refrigerator door across the room. If you not lucky, you open the door and the spark from the light switch sets off the explosion and throws the door in your face.
Here’s a couple of examples. There are many more.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1210334/Alert-new-wave-exploding-fridges-caused-environmentally-friendly-coolant.html
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tragic-bride-killed-after-fridge-6817075
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/492544/samsung-fridge-explosion-RS21NCNS-recall-fault
https://www.theexpertinstitute.com/case-studies/product-defect-allegedly-causes-explosion-in-refrigerator/
https://www.scotsman.com/news/three-taken-to-hospital-after-fridge-explosions-1-959075
http://www.foxnews.com/story/2009/09/02/report-eco-friendly-coolant-causing-refrigerators-to-explode.html
http://www.ukfiretraining.com/news/fridge-freezer-fires.html
Nearly every home has far more than two ounces of isobutane in aerosol cans in inventory. This is in a disposable, valve sealed steel can container.
Compare and contrast with hermetic sealed heavy steel and copper refrigerant system. Protected by an outer casement.
The engineering of refrigeration systems has improved greatly over the last 90 years since Kettering and Midgely pioneered chlorofluorocarbon to offset flammable, corrosive and toxic refrigerants of the 19th century. Modern recovery systems mean nothing is lost. In automotive systems, far greater hazard exists in high pressure direct injection gasoline systems..discounting the evaporator sections which never leak in operation as they operate below atmospheric pressure.
The use of hydrocarbon refrigerants is economic. They are more efficient, require far smaller compressors and are dirt cheap.
>Compare and contrast with hermetic sealed heavy steel and copper refrigerant system. Protected by an >outer casement.
Can you please identify a home refrigerator where the evaporator is made of steel and copper? I’ve been looking at refrigerators and everything I see is aluminum.