United States. The Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute (Ahri) revealed in an investigation that there is a low risk of ignition in the use of R32, HFO 1234yf or HFO 1234ze refrigerants in residential pipelines with heat pump systems.
"One of Ahri's goals is to keep consumers safe when using HVAC/R products and water heaters. This comprehensive study found that the ignition risk associated with these refrigerants is significantly lower than with other common hazard events, and is well below the risk level commonly accepted by the general public."
The study investigated four locations within a residence for indoor air controller installation, including the basement, garage, attic and utility closet. Computational fluid dynamics simulation and validation tests were conducted to understand refrigerant dispersion patterns, and the study evaluated seven refrigerant leak scenarios. The error tree analysis in this study only considered refrigerant ignition and did not determine whether a fire would occur due to ignition of surrounding materials."
The full report is published in English on the following website www.ahrinet.org/technical+results.aspx.
