Urgent meeting sought over cellar cooler ban

UK: Graeme Fox, F-gas scheme director at Quidos, has sought an “urgent meeting” with DEFRA over its decision to include cellar coolers within the January 1 split system AC ban.

Fox has stepped into the row over the definition of air conditioning and refrigeration and the ban on “single split air conditioning systems” under the F-gas regulations. 

Under the 2014 EU F-gas regulations, which were adopted into UK law following Brexit, new single split air conditioning systems containing less than 3kg of F-gases will be banned from being placed on the market from January 1 if they are using refrigerant with a GWP of 750 or more.

DEFRA and the Environment Agency have recently insisted that cellar coolers, used throughout the licensed trade to keep the temperature of a cellar at the right level for storing drinks, food, and other items, are included in the ban. This is despite the regulation clearly stating that it defines “single split air conditioning systems” as systems for “room air conditioning”. 

In his communication with DEFRA, Graeme Fox, who was heavily involved in the original formulation of the F-gas regulation, has questioned the government department’s decision and its definition of air conditioning and refrigeration.

He insists that it was “never in the spirit of the regulations” to include cellar cooling refrigeration systems in the ban and that the decision had caused “huge consternation”.

Referring to the regulation’s own definitions, he writes: “It is perfectly clear that “cellar cooling” is classed as refrigeration equipment as it is designed to lower and maintain at a lower than ambient temperature the beers, foodstuffs, and other products for sale from the premises. It is not about controlling the humidity nor cleaning the air in the cellar – it is purely about cooling the products being stored in the cellar.”

He also questions the timing of the announcement for a sector which was unprepared for such a “monumental shift in focus” for a ban “previously seen as effecting room air conditioning systems”.

“This decision which you have made public only two weeks prior to the effective date, and taking into account that one week of that is during traditional holiday shutdown period, is causing severe anxiety across the sector. 

“A number of designs and quotations will still be open and valid after 1st January 2025 but seemingly impossible to meet if this interpretation remains.”