Section 01 Alternatives to HCFCs in the Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Sector 18 Th is market is dominated by large volume production, mostly from Asia, but in some markets, small local manufacturers are also present (see 2.1 “The transition in the unitary and split air conditioning market”). The price competition is extremely tough and quality/performance is not always a factor that the customer can evaluate. These systems are installed in offices, hotels, restaurants, bars,shops and private homes. The numbers of suppliers/installers/service providers involved are high and the level of competency is often low. Global players have local representation in many countries either through their own subsidiaries or through local distributors, but significant volumes are traded by less skilled and specialised companies competing in segments with low pricing, which makes this sector challenging and diversified. A significant part of the market will be focused solely on low initial price at the expense of equipment efficiency. As this market rapidly grows in many countries, so does the number of units installed each year increase. Therefore this sector can play a significant role as the limit on imports of HCFCs for servicing comes into effect. These units are supplied with a full refrigerant charge and the HCFCs contained therein are not counted as part of the imported HCFC quantities, but their leakage rates can be expected to increase gradually through the year as the units grow old. The leakage rates are further increased due to the often low skills of the installers, particularly for split units, as they are installed on site with one component located outside and the other inside the building. For more than ten years, ODS-free but high GWP HFC-based alternatives such as R-410A and R-407C have been available in this sector. However, due to the cost of retrofit and relatively low value of old units, retrofits to HFCs have not been the preferred solution on most markets since these systems will often already be old before the phase out of R-22 becomes urgent. On the other hand, in Article 5 countries, the price of labour is relatively low and retrofits can be a more interesting option than replacements. This will be described further in the section presenting the case studies on retrofit methods, options and available solutions for existing equipment. FanFanAir evaporatorAir condenserAir condenserAir evaporatorConnections to joinindoor and oudoor unitFanFanOutdoor unitIndoor unit Fig. 1.2 Unitary systems (left) are mounted “through the wall” without the need to connect the refrigeration system on site.Split systems (right) are assembled on site. S implified flowchart: Unitary system S implified flowchart: split system