A welcome change to home air heat pumps

The EU’s F-gas regulation, which entered into force last spring, wants to severely limit the placing on the market of equipment and products containing climate-warming fluorinated greenhouse gases. The change will soon also apply to Finns purchasing air source heat pumps.

According to the Finnish Heat Pump Association, heat pumps and refrigeration equipment will gradually switch to using refrigerants that are more environmentally friendly and less climate-warming as a result of the regulation.

Butane and propane, i.e. R-290 refrigerant, are becoming replacement refrigerants.

“Such gases are good in terms of combating climate change and pumps can also be made well with those substances”, executive director of the Finnish Heat Pump Association Jussi Hirvonen tells.

However, there is also a nasty risk associated with them, because they are explosive and flammable substances.

“Especially careful care must be taken to ensure that the gas does not leak in such a way that explosive or flammable mixtures are created.”

The current owners have nothing to worry about

According to Hirvonen, there could be a few hundred grams of propane in a home’s air source heat pump.

“It’s a small amount. If for some reason it happens to leak during transport, installation or use, you must be careful not to create an explosive gas mixture. That’s why regulations and some security systems need to be created.”

According to Hirvonen, there will be additional requirements for equipment installers due to flammable refrigerants.

“These trainings and requirements are currently being prepared at the Ministry of the Environment.”

Propane in itself is a familiar substance in many homes as barbecue gas.

“After all, there are quite a few places with a gas stove.”

Hirvonen estimates that devices using new refrigerants will start to enter the market more widely within a couple of years.

“Air-to-water heat pumps and air-to-air heat pumps will come first.”

R-290 air-water heat pumps are already available in Finland.

According to the Finnish Heat Pump Association, current owners of air source heat pumps do not have to worry about the effects of the EU regulation on the use of their own device, because maintenance and service of the existing device base is made possible by it.