The importance of refrigerant gas and its impact on the environment
Refrigerant gas is a vital component in any fridge, freezer, or air conditioning unit. It is responsible for transferring heat from the inside of the fridge to the outside, which keeps the contents of the fridge cool and fresh. But did you know that the type of refrigerant gas used in your fridge can have a significant impact on the environment?
Before the 1980s, the most commonly used refrigerant gases were chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs). These gases were highly effective at cooling, but they were also incredibly damaging to the ozone layer. When CFCs and HCFCs were released into the atmosphere, they reacted with the ozone layer, causing it to thin and allowing harmful UV radiation to penetrate the Earth’s surface.
Today, Shoreline uses a range of eco-friendly refrigerants that have a much lower impact on the environment. One of these refrigerants is R600a, which is the refrigerant gas that we use in all of our Shoreline DC refrigerators.
R600a is a hydrocarbon refrigerant, also known as isobutane. It has a low global warming potential (GWP) and ozone depletion potential (ODP), which makes it a much safer and more eco-friendly alternative to older refrigerants. In fact, R600a has a GWP of just 3, which is significantly lower than the GWP of other commonly used refrigerants like R134a (GWP of 1430) and R404a (GWP of 3922).
On top of this, our extremely low energy consuming SECOP BD35K compressors make our fridges one of the most, if not the most, environmentally friendly in the UK market, without compromising on cooling performance.
