Making the best choice with chillers and boilers

Russ Baker MInstR, director, UK&I Hire, at ICS Cool Energy, a specialist in the hire and sale of chillers and boiler hire and the provision of smaller temporary HVAC units, considers some of the key challenges posed by the F-Gas Regulation, and highlights the importance of forward planning when considering the mobilisation of chillers and boilers in healthcare settings. He also highlights the obligations on owners of refrigerant systems, and considers the financial and other benefits of ‘hire vs. buy’.

The temperature control industry – like many important industrial and engineering sectors – is governed by stringent regulations and laws. One of the most important for the temperature control arena is the F-Gas Regulation, the latest update to which came into force on 1 January 2015 – a complicated regulation designed to lower the amount of greenhouse gas released into the environment by phasing down the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) gases in line with the EU 2050 Low Carbon roadmap. 

Healthcare engineering personnel need to be fully up to speed with the regulation, and to note the importance of applying regulatory guidance to all chiller and air-conditioning refrigeration systems across the healthcare estate.