International. A new report from the American Institute of Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration (AHRI) suggests that contamination is not limited to R40 to R134a and has also been found in some counterfeit branded products.
AHRI, which represents 300 U.S. manufacturers, including companies such as Arkema, DuPont and Honeywell, published the white paper to help contractors and others in the industry identify and prevent counterfeit refrigerants.
AHRI President and CEO Stephen Yurek said that "refrigerants contaminated with R40 pose the risk of explosion, so we must make every effort to detect their presence and ensure that their concentration is below the maximum level recommended by the AHRI 700 standard."
The institute also reveals that in addition to R40 and R22, R142b, R152a, and R12 have been found mixed with R134a in freshly filled cylinders marked with R134a content.
Worryingly, AHRI argues that the problem with counterfeit and contaminated refrigerants goes beyond R134a. Other refrigerants, including R22, R404A, R410A, have also been found to be counterfeit and in some cases heavily contaminated.
The white paper, in English, can be found by clicking here.
