Ready to lead the charge in ignition safety for HVACR?

Folks, hold onto your seats as I unveil a notable development in HVACR practices. Can I get a drumroll, please? ABB Drives has achieved a historic milestone — our products conformity with safety against ignition according to IEC/UL60335-2-40.

Let's unravel HVACR complexities with Tim R. Skell!

Our expert, Tim R. Skell, spent almost 3 years sharing his expertise in the #FunFactFriday series on LinkedIn. Now, we are giving him a forum to exchange news, knowledge, and passion for HVACR technologies in the new ABB column.

Join the discussion with Tim R. Skell on LinkedIn to read other fun facts and share ideas!

Regulation has the HVACR industry moving towards refrigerants with a low global warming potential (GWP). Some of those refrigerants with a low GWP have a degree of flammability to them.

There are different classifications for various flammability levels. A1 has no flame propagation, A2L is considered lower flammability, next up is A2, and then A3 is the classification for higher flammability.

To give you an idea of how flammable A3 is, I use a variation of an “A3 refrigerant torch” to start my campfires – it’s better known as a propane torch.

If low GPW substances leak, they have a reduced impact on greenhouse warming. But, with the transition to refrigerants with ratings A2L through A3, there is a need to evaluate potential ignition sources on or near the equipment that uses the flammable refrigerant.

I’ve seen a few VSD manufacturers mention compatibility/conformity to systems with A2L. That’s a great start. But wait a second...

ABB’s ACH180 & ACH580 drives are OK being around A2L and up to A3.

What does it mean in practice? For example, if you were building a refrigeration system using a refrigerant and you built it out of products that were not IEC/UL60335-2-40 compliant, you can't sell it because it might ignite.

So, either the manufacturer must do extensive testing to prove that their unit won't cause harm, or they can purchase a product compatible with systems with given flammable refrigerants. Then, they don’t have to test anything, so they don’t waste time and money.

For more details, check out the ACSH180 and ACH580 A2L/A3 Refrigerant Declarations of Conformity:

ACH180 A2L Declaration and A3 Declaration.

ACH580 A2L Declaration and A3 Declaration.