Carrier Rental Systems, the world's leader in the temperature control market, has identified an increase in sales enquiries of its hire fleet of process
chillers and industrial air-conditioning systems as a direct result of the
impending phase out of the refrigerant R22.
With the squeeze on capital investment and the reduced availability of funding
options, combined with the need to short term cooling alternatives, CRS
anticipate a growing demand for rental equipment through to the end of the year
as companies see chiller hire and air-conditioner rental as credible financial
alternative to purchasing new refrigeration equipment through the R22 phase out
period.
From the end of December 2009 the use of virgin HCFC's will be prohibited in the
maintenance and servicing of refrigeration and air conditioning equipment
existing at that date, leading to the likely problem of depleting stocks of R22,
a shortage in the availability of qualified refrigeration engineers and the
rise in the cost of the remaining recycled R22.
Initial customer research carried out by Carrier Rental Systems indicates that
many manufacturing companies in the UK are still to implement a satisfactory
strategy to comply with the impending legislation changes and risk being caught
up in reduced availability, increased prices and possible refrigeration system
downtime. In response to this situation, CRS is making 25% of its fleet
specifically available to clients who need to implement a rental cooling
solution to cover production time whilst either a "drop in replacement"
refrigerant is identified and introduced or while upgrades to the incumbent
cooling system takes place. Chillers and coolers will be available for either
short term rental or longer term hire with special product and service packages
available for clients looking for long term hire solutions.
R22 is a HCFC low temperature refrigerant that is used in process chillers,
industrial refrigerant plants, commercial cold storage facilities and air-
conditioning systems throughout the world and it is estimated by Carbon Trust
that 70% of UK based food manufacturing sites have a refrigeration system using
R22.
R22 is an ozone depleting HCFC and like many HCFC's has been used as an interim
replacement to CFC's which were banned in 2000. R22 damages the earth's ozone
layer which filters out incoming radiation in the ultraviolet (UV) part of the
spectrum. The discovery of a large ozone hole over Antarctica and its
association with man-made CFCs led the world to take action to protect the ozone
layer through the introduction of legislation covering their manufacture, use
and disposal.
HCFC's including R22, were banned in new refrigeration systems in 2000. From the
31st December 2009 it will no longer be possible to use virgin HCFC's for
maintenance of refrigeration systems and the use of recycled HCFC's will be
banned from the end of 2014. After this date all R22 users will have either had
to have found acceptable alternative refrigerants or have invested in new plant.
There will be no other (legal) alternatives.
Keith Browse, director Carrier Rental Systems said " We are anticipating that
demand for hire equipment will soar this year as clients are faced with two
issues of replacing capital for the purchase of equipment, but more
significantly the looming legislation changes to the use of R22 which will come
into place at the end of the year. I think many companies will opt for long term
rental solutions until the economy picks up and they feel more comfortable will
the R22 availability situation. I think many companies are putting off major
changes to their refrigeration equipment until they have seen what has happened
and what solutions other manufactures have implemented"
Carrier Rental Systems operates worldwide and throughout the UK providing a
market leading range of specialist temperature control rental products to a wide
variety of industries and clients and is a key part of the Carrier Corporation,
a United Technologies Company. Since its formation in 1995, Carrier Rental
Systems has gained a solid reputation for providing high value rental solutions
to diverse and demanding applications.
www.carrierrentalsystems.co.uk