Cellar cooler trade in uproar over F-gas ban
16th December 2024
UK: Manufacturers and suppliers of cellar coolers are in uproar after UK government agencies declared that such systems using higher GWP refrigerants will be banned from January 1.
The decision, which could have severe consequences for licensed premises, revolves around the definitions of air conditioning and refrigeration and has serious ramifications for an industry worth around £10m per year.
DEFRA and the Environment Agency have decided that cellar coolers, consisting of an outdoor condensing unit linked to a cellar room evaporator, are included under the split system ban coming into force from January 1.
The 2014 EU F-gas regulations adopted into UK law following Brexit, decrees that from January 1, new single split air conditioning systems, containing less than 3kg of fluorinated greenhouse gases, will be banned if they use refrigerants with a GWP of 750 or more. The ban applies in England, Scotland and Wales.
The revelation has caused consternation amongst cellar cooler manufacturers and suppliers who point out that the regulation, itself, defines single split air conditioning systems as “systems for room air conditioning”. Cellar coolers, they insist, are clearly for product cooling and, as such, are refrigeration units.
In response to a request for clarification, DEFRA confirmed to the Cooling Post that the Environment Agency considered that the regulation included cellar cooling.
“We consider such units to be systems for room air conditioning that consist of one outdoor unit and one indoor unit linked by refrigerant piping, needing installation at the site of usage,” DEFRA said. “There is no provision in EU Regulation 517/2014 as brought into UK law, to exclude cellar cooling from prohibition based on room temperature or location,” it added.
While cellar coolers using flammable A2L refrigerant R32, a refrigerant within the 750 GWP limit, do exist, most currently use refrigerants like R410A R448A, R449A and R407C – all of which are above the 750 GWP limit.
Chris Chisman, technical director at TEV, the manufacturer of Marstair brand cellar coolers, insists that under the F-gas regulation’s own definition the ban should not be applied to cellar cooling.
“The up-and-coming ban in 2025 only references AC systems and therefore should not apply to cellar cooling,” he said. “Changing this position cannot be done at such short notice before the ban implementation and without proper consultation.”
Chisman points to the F-gas regulation’s own guidance documentation which defines equipment “designed to cool products or storage spaces below ambient temperature”, like cellar coolers, as “refrigeration”.
Such is the anger and ill-feeling that some suppliers are threatening to defy the ban or devise ways to side-step it. With many cellar cooling systems using refrigerant receivers, there are concerns that some could add a larger receiver to the system and take it outside the 3kg limit.
DEFRA maintains that the regulations does allow for an exemption for a period of up to four years if “a specific product or a piece of equipment, or for a specific category of products or equipment, alternatives are not available, or cannot be used for technical or safety reasons” or if “the use of technically feasible and safe alternatives would entail disproportionate costs”.
It advises that requests for a derogation must be sent to fgas@defra.gov.uk, providing technical evidence in support of the application, but insists that prohibited goods must not be placed on the GB market until a derogation has been granted.
The ruling applies to “placing on the market”, which means that product can still be sold if it was released for free circulation in Great Britain before the 1 January deadline.
