Important to note when purchasing a cooling chamber:

If a cold chamber is operated with conventional refrigerants, and therefore also with R23 or substitutes, this means that this chamber has a very high GWP value. The GWP value of a refrigerant defines its relative global warming potential in relation to CO2 (also known as CO2 equivalent). The value describes the global warming effect over a certain period of time, usually over 100 years in the case of refrigerants.

The CO2 equivalent of the common refrigerant R23 in the cooling chamber sector over a period of 100 years is 14,800, which means that one kilogram of R23 contributes 14,800 times as much to the greenhouse effect as one kilogram of CO2 within the first 100 years of its release. The release of one kilogram of R23 therefore corresponds to the release of 32,630 lbs (14,800 kg) of CO2.

Similar products to the climate-damaging refrigerant R23 are R508B and R508A.

Due to these high CO2 mass equivalents of other cold chambers, the cost-intensive maintenance intervals with leak tests (at least once a year – “F-Gas Regulation”) also increase, which also leads to ongoing downtime.

GWP stands for global warming potential. The GWP value is assigned to various substances such as CO2, but above all to refrigerants, and is a measure of the relative effect of the contribution to the greenhouse effect.

The higher the GWP value, the more harmful the corresponding substance is to the climate.