.

In the UK we treat all refrigerants equally (even R718, water), but
we then expect a little more skill and knowledge regarding specials,
such as Ammonia, C02 and Hydro Carbons.

We are legally obliged to hold a refrigerant handling qualification and
the current version, which has been in place since 2009 is a qualification
that allows the holder to work on any refrigerant except Ammonia.

Ammonia is a different qualification and the guys who hold it tend to have
both the F-gas qual and the Ammonia qual.

We then treat HC and C02 as specialties and although we are allowed to use
them and work with them with the normal refrigerant handling qualification,
the industry like us to have extra quals in the use of these specials.

In the UK C02 and HC are treated as add ons to the legal qualification and they
prove industry competance, this is because C02 and HC are nether a Chlorine or
a Florine based gas, so they do not officially fall under the restrictions of Montreal
or Kyoto.

In the UK we tend to treat all refrigerants more or less equally but a little bit of
extra attention is placed on C02 and HC because they can have issues if not understood.

Ammonia is treated as a stand alone refrigerant and only specialists tend to work with it.

Regards

Rob

.