The CARE Range

By December 31st 1994 all production of CFC's will have ended in the European Community. Since the directive was announced, chemists have worked to find a suitable replacement.

In replacing R-12, which was one of the most widely used CFC refrigerants most of the alternatives have had two things in common: they are costly and not easy to install.

One of the main contenders is R-134a, which involves expensive changes to existing equipment and the use of new types of oil, which can usually only be purchased from the refrigerant manufacturers.

The cost to users in making the change has been high, and the efficacy of the product far from established.

But Calor Gas' CARE 30 refrigerant provides the solution.

Not only can it be fitted without making any changes to equipment, but it is cheaper and more efficient.

The main constituents of CARE 30 have been on the planer since time began: the hydrocarbons propane and butane.

Since the early part of the 20th century they have been used as refrigerants, but their wider acceptance is only now beginning as technology improves their efficiency.

Eminent scientists are in no doubt that hydrocarbon based refrigerants like CARE 30 provide the solution to CFC replacement.

Most gases are flammable under certain circumstances, and the behaviour of hydrocarbons is well known and understood.

However, as Dr Richardson of the Institute of Cryogenics, University of Southampton notes "hydrocarbon safety risks can be reduced to an insignificant level."

The CARE range has been welcomed by environmental campaigners who see it as a real breakthrough in providing an alternative to damaging CFC's. "The forthcoming work on hydrocarbons will play a decisive part in the debate, and we regard it as being of huge importance." Greenpeace.