Problems with the refrigerants used in local heat pumps

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates, “heat pumps globally have the potential to reduce global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by at least 500 million tonnes in 2030 – equal to the annual CO2 emissions of all cars in Europe today.”

However the coolants used in many heat pumps available in our area may not be as environmentally friendly as believed. 

This problem was brought to Cortes Currents' attention by Cortes Island resident Ralph Garrison, who explained, “We actually own a house in Victoria because  we took our daughter to high school there,  bought a ‘junk house,’ fixed it up and put in a heat pump. A year or so later, all the refrigerant disappeared for reasons unknown. The people that installed it came back to put more refrigerant in it and now it has worked for a few years, just fine.’ 

“I don't know many people with heat pumps, but I have two friends that have lost all the refrigerant from Daikin heat pumps.”

Cortes Currents reached out to a company distributing Daikin heat pumps on Cortes and Quadra Islands, as well as Campbell River, but this is the weekend and the call was merely forwarded by their answering service.

Most of the of heat pumps, refrigerators and air conditioners sold locally use R-410A, a refrigerant whose global warming potentrial (GWP) is 2,088 times worse than C02.

“It sounds like they maintain their refrigerant for many years. So that's great as long as this refrigerant doesn't leak, but my guess, and this is just my guess, is that at some point in the life of the equipment, there'll be a failure,” said Garrrison.

According to the Green Building Advisor, “If the 3 to 4 pounds of R-410A in a small ductless heat pump system were to escape into the atmosphere, it would cause as much warming as a gasoline car’s annual emissions.”

After studying 528 heat pump installations made by 6 different companies, the British firm Eunomia concluded that about 10% of domestic heat pumps leak every year. For the most part these are minor leaks, but they did find 34 ‘catastrophic leaks’ in which 46-50% of the fluid was lost. There were either no problems, or only relatively minor leaks, with roughly 93.5% of the units they examined. Eunomia’s report was published close to a decade ago, but they were aware that R-410A has a GWP of 2,088 and advised the UK to adopt this technology. 

“The levels of emissions from leakage, however, are small relative to the total emissions reductions which might be delivered by heat pump technologies via the displacement of fossil fuelled heating alternatives.” 

One home service company listed the possible causes of leaks and ways to fix them:
a faulty installation
a clogged drain line (which needs to be cleaned).
the evaporator coil may be dirty and unable to handle the condensation (which could have been prevented by scheduling routine HVAC maintenance).
a crack in the overflow pan (buy a new one a.s.a.p.)
a frozen evaporator coil (needs immediate repair).

On January 1, 2020, the European Union baned its use of R-410A in new heat pumps. Further restrictions are coming in 2025. This includes a prohibition of all refrigerant gasses with a global warming potential (GWP) higher than 750.    

In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency states that no residential and commercial air conditioning equipment using R-410A can be built after January 1, 2025 or sold after January 1, 2026.