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EPA 608 Certification & Trade School Diplomas designed to get you into a job in less than 4 weeks. 

Safety

EPA 608 Type 1 Chapter 11 (Take full course)


In this module, we will take a look at safety equipment and practices that will help us avoid injury or harm. We will also discuss why we should never expose refrigerants to high temperatures.


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1. Overview


As technicians, it is important to handle refrigerants carefully because they can be flammable, toxic, or both. Refrigerants are also stored in pressurized cylinders, so there is a risk of explosion.


Remember that the number one cause of death in the HVAC industry is oxygen deprivation. We can prevent this by following safety protocol in the case of refrigerant leaks.


2. Safety Equipment


Working with refrigerants requires that we use:

  • Safety eyewear, and

  • Butyl lined gloves


We need to make sure we are wearing both of these when connecting or disconnecting hoses, because that’s when we will come into contact with refrigerant.


Safety eyewear protects our eyes from potentially toxic chemicals and butyl-lined gloves prevents refrigerant burns or frostbite. Note that regular cloth gloves are not enough protection against refrigerant burns and frostbite! So make sure that your gloves are lined with butyl.

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A self-contained breathing apparatus (or SCBA) is used to provide air that is safe to breathe in spaces where the atmosphere is immediately dangerous to life or health. If you know that refrigerant has leaked, you need to locate a SCBA and put it on.


If no SCBA can be located, you need to leave the space and ventilate it. SCBAs are needed when there is a leak but not needed for regular servicing.


When using nitrogen in our repairs, we want to make sure that the nitrogen tank has a regulator or relief valve. This is to guard against a sudden pressure build up that can cause explosions.


And lastly, we need to go over the use of safety markings with hydrocarbon refrigerants. Recall that hydrocarbons (HCs) are highly flammable refrigerants. Safety markings help to manage the risk of possibly igniting highly flammable HC refrigerants.


SNAP regulations require markings on equipment that contain hydrocarbon refrigerants. These markings are part of the use conditions for hydrocarbons in household refrigerators under SNAP. Appliance manufacturers are responsible for putting the safety markings in place to help technicians identify the risk.


When hydrocarbons are used in appliances, these areas need to be permanently marked:

  • On or near any evaporators

  • Near any exposed refrigerant tubing.

  • Near the machine compartment, and

  • On the exterior of the refrigerator.

3. Safety Procedure


A very large leak can cause suffocation because refrigerants are heavier than air and displace oxygen. This cuts off oxygen supply at ground level and causes suffocation.

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The size of the space that the equipment is in affects the concentration of refrigerant in the air. For example, if the space is small, the amount of refrigerant fills up the room faster and reaches a higher concentration of refrigerant in the air if leaked.


If refrigerants are released, do not try to stop the leak! The most important thing is preserving your own life. You must first find and put on a SCBA. If no SCBA is available, then you must naturally ventilate the area to prevent an explosion. This includes opening any windows or doors to decrease the concentration of refrigerant in the air.


4. Handling CFCs and HCFCs


Recall that refrigerants are stored in pressurized cylinders. If subjected to high temperatures, refrigerant cylinders can explode and the refrigerant inside can decompose to toxic substances.

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This is why we should never let refrigerants come into contact with

  • Open flames, or

  • Hot metal surfaces

At high temperatures, CFC and HCFC refrigerants decompose to hydrochloric acids and hydrofluoric acids. These acids can cause severe burns and can be fatal within hours. This is why we need to take care not to expose CFC and HCFC refrigerants to high temperatures, so they do not form these acids.


If a refrigerant contains chlorine, it will decompose to

  • Hydrochloric acids.

If a refrigerant contains fluorine, it will decompose to

  • Hydrofluoric acids.

CFCs and HCFCs are not flammable but they can be forced to burn in the presence of a flame. When we use welding torches to cut refrigerant piping, what is happening is we’re actually burning the piping at the cut.


There can be residual refrigerant in the piping that will burn along with the piping. This residual refrigerant will be forced to burn and if it is CFC or HCFC refrigerant, the refrigerants will burn to produce phosgene gas.


Phosgene gas is poisonous. In fact, phosgene gas was previously used as a chemical weapon in WWI. So we will want to avoid burning or heating up CFC and HCFC refrigerants.


5. Conclusion


In this module, we discussed the safety equipment we need to prevent refrigerant burns and in the case of refrigerant leaks. We also went over the dangerous chemicals that CFCs and HCFCs can produce if exposed to high temperatures or burned. This is why we cannot expose refrigerants to open flames or high temperatures.




Other References:


 
 
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