Q:
How safe are A2L refrigerants used in air conditioning systems? Do they burn easily?
It takes three failures in a system to ignite an A2L refrigerant used in
air conditioning equipment. Failures required include the following:
a. There would have to be a significant refrigerant leak.
b. The leak would have to be sufficient to reach the lower flammability limit (LFL) concentration.
LFL concentrations for A2Ls are above 10%.
c. There would have to be an open flame or a high energy ignition source where the
concentration is sufficient to ignite A2L refrigerants.
One thing we do know for certain is that HCFCs do impact the environment negatively, which is why their use is being prohibited. Exactly how you measure that impact is the subject of debate.