United States. The Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) published the results of a project conducted in cooperation with UL and the Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI) in which refrigerants classified by ASHRAE as A2L (lower flammability) were tested and compared with A1 refrigerants (no flame propagation) in real-world situations.
The effort was undertaken to develop training programs for firefighting personnel when responding to fires in destinations with new (A2L) and existing (A1) refrigerants.
The project included scenarios designed by fire service professionals to develop training for tactical consideration to demonstrate the hazards the fire service may encounter for A1 and A2L refrigerants.
"We are grateful to the UL employees and fire service members who devoted significant time to developing and executing this project and preparing reports to ensure they are accurate and useful to firefighters," said Helen Walter-Terrinoni, AHRI. Vice President of Regulatory Affairs.
Since the industry began pursuing a phase-out of refrigerants with the highest global warming potential (GWP) more than 10 years ago, more than $7 million has been invested in research to better understand the lower GWP refrigerants that will replace them.
The FSRI training module, which incorporates videos from the project, will soon be launched and available for free on its website.
The refrigerant report can be viewed by CLICKING HERE.
