The ESCO Institute recently announced the release of its Low GWP Refrigerant Safety: Flammable and Mildly Flammable Refrigerants Training and Certification Program.

As the HVACR industry continues to move forward and innovate, the refrigerants that were once so commonplace are now being phased down. Replacing them are more energy efficient and environmentally friendlier refrigerants, known as low GWP refrigerants. Many of these new refrigerants are classified by ASHRAE as A2L, or slightly flammable.

With numerous changes to building codes and industry standards to accommodate the safe use of low GWP refrigerants, those working in the HVACR industry need a reliable source of information and training to keep pace with innovation. ESCO’s Low GWP Refrigerant Safety Program fills that need.

The Low GWP Refrigerant Program manual, which is available in both printed and digital format, covers:

  • Refrigerant safety;
  • Introduction to low GWP refrigerants;
  • Refrigerant properties and characteristics;
  • The refrigeration cycle;
  • Working with refrigerant blends;
  • Proper installation and service guidelines;
  • Flammable refrigerant considerations; and
  • Explanation of the associated codes and standards for A2L refrigerants.

The instructor resource materials include a 204-slide PowerPoint presentation that correlates directly with the manual. Each slide contains speaker notes to aid the instructor through the presentation and provide additional talking points.

A certification exam is available to validate that a person has retained the information presented in the program. The closed-book certification exam for this program is 50 questions, covering the following competencies:

  • General flammable refrigerant safety knowledge;
  • Core ACR knowledge
  • Flammable system service safety
  • Flammable system installation safety; and
  • Flammable refrigerant transportation and handling safety.

This program can be incorporated into any HVACR program that teaches the safe use of refrigerants or can be used as a stand-alone course. Wholesalers, manufacturers, and continuing education providers can use this program to reinforce these all-important concepts in a training program that can be presented in as little as 8 to 10 hours.

This modular training package is available as a complete training solution (training manual, instructor PowerPoint presentation, and certification), or instructors can purchase items separately. For complete details, including the soon-to-be released interactive e-learning version of the program, visit escogroup.org.

Registered test administrators can login to view a copy of the training manual in the proctor resource center.

For additional information, contact ESCO Institute at 800 726-9696.

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