ROUNDTABLE | REFCOM ELITE While we make quality products, as soon as they are in the field they are only as good as the installation Lee Nicholls An F-Gas certificate is different some consultants dont understand that John Otterson ago, added Wright. The innovations put into these systems to make them efficient and try to reduce refrigerant charges is substantial. For someone to turn up and say they are an air conditioning engineer is probably pushing the limits of reality, but this happens a lot. The knock-on effects are not just with the air conditioning systems, said Wayne Buckley, managing director of Temperature Control. The efficiency of the building where offices are not cooled or heated properly is also affected. Weve had to fix faults done by others where equipment hasnt been installed properly. Theyve put in some gas and they think its running, but its not. There are cost implications and legal aspects to this. Buckley added that backing REFCOM Elite can have its challenges. He said his company works hard to maintain high standards, collaborating with manufacturers to get the highest levels of workmanship, but they are often competing against unskilled contractors who undercut. This can result in unsatisfactory installations of systems, leading to poorly performing equipment, leakages and other problems. He cites an example of a project they lost to another contractor; four years later, his firm was invited to fix an array of major problems. The project cost increased from 1.4m to 2.1m because of the faults, and the systems went from having 10 complaints a day to 10 per year after we had finished, said Buckley. Half the pipework had to be changed and fundamental engineering processes werent followed, such as understanding pipework schematics, pipework sizes and refrigerant charges. This is why its so important to have a quality product, installed by a quality contractor. Sometimes, the specification isnt correct, which is often bypassed to get that commercial edge and all the benefits of a proper system are lost. Lee Nicholls, director of Daikin Air Conditioning UK, also highlighted that poor workmanship by unskilled installers can damage a manufacturers reputation: While we make quality products that are perfect in the factory, as soon as they are put in the field they are only as good as the installation. F-Gas requires refrigerant manufacturers to focus on energy efficiency and reduce carbon dioxide emissions to lower their products global warming potential (GWP), but as Phillip Ord, head of marketing and sales strategy at Mitsubishi Electric, said, if the system isnt installed correctly, and isnt serviced or maintained, then the carbon dioxide running costs over the equipments life-cycle will be astronomical. A poorly installed and maintained air conditioning system can result in a 20% to 30% reduction in efficiency of that equipment, added Wright. The Institute of Refrigeration has said that a variation of between 5% and 10% on refrigerant charge can change efficiency by at least 10% and thats on smaller systems. Everyone agreed that problems occurring in the systems can also be the result of insufficient maintenance such as not cleaning pipework and Long term, we need legislation. There has to be some stick involved as well as the carrot Phillip Ord 34 December 2019 www.cibsejournal.com CIBSE Dec19 pp33-36 REFCOM Roundtable.indd 34 22/11/2019 15:24