It’s not adopted directly in many places, but its content is referred to by the UMC and IMC model codes throughout the U.S. This means new safety rules are necessary to accommodate their use.ĪSHRAE 15 is the base standard that determines the installation requirements for most refrigeration and air conditioning systems in the U.S. Because it has been very difficult to find replacement refrigerants with low GWPs that are not flammable, it has become necessary for the industry to transition to A2L refrigerants. This means that is it being phased-down in current F-Gas regulations in Europe and, although the path is less clear in Canada, it will catch up in the phase-down here as well. There are plenty of high-level safety code updates and changes to the refrigerants themselves that are ultimately driving this change since we previously discussed this topic in July 2021. The next phase of the transition to newer lower global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants is well underway and we are starting to see changes that have been in the works for over a decade come into effect quickly. The industry is changing quickly, and updates to new refrigerants are very frequent. I can’t help feeling like there is something of a paradox, or at the very least, some sort of incongruity between how long it takes to develop codes and rules compared to how often it feels those same regulations are changing.Ĭode and safety regulation development usually feels like a mind-numbingly slow process. The opinions in this article are solely those of the author and do not represent those of either committee.

NOTE TO READERS: The author sits on both the ASHRAE 15 committee and the CSA B52 committee. Starting in 2025, all residential refrigerators have to use refrigerant with a GWP less than 150 like isobutane. A warning label on a new residential refrigerator.

Code b52 refrigeration