Manual for Refrigeration Servicing Technicians - UNEP - Division of ...

Introduction
Another form of reference information pertinent to the application of
refrigeration systems and refrigerants is standards, which are usually
a description of procedures or technical requirements that should
enable individuals or companies to achieve equivalence in the
activity under consideration.
For example, following refrigeration safety standards should ensure
that two separate refrigerating systems achieve an equivalent
level of safety, and following performance standards should
ensure that two separate organizations would measure the same
performance of the same system. Furthermore, they are intended
to help practitioners avoid problems, errors and pitfalls that they
may otherwise encounter if they did not follow the guidance of the
standards.
Standards are published by a variety of different organizations.
At a country level, national standardization bodies publish
national standards (although in many cases these may be
based on other countries’ standards or international standards).
European standardization bodies publish a European standard,
which are typically adopted by national standardization bodies
within European countries. Internationally, there are two main
organizations which publish international standards.
The numbers of national, European and International standards that
apply to the RAC sector are vast, and the reader should seek out
the most relevant ones when and where necessary.
Here, a small selection of such standards is listed to provide an indication of
what may be relevant to this subject area:
EN 378: 2008 – Refrigeration systems and heat pumps, safety and
environmental requirements;
This is comprised of four parts
• Part 1: basic requirements, classification and selection criteria
• Part 2: design, construction, testing, marking and documentation
• Part 3: Installation site and personal protection
• Part 4: Operation, maintenance, repair and recovery
EN 13313: 2008 – Refrigeration systems and heat pumps, Competence of
personnel; this addresses the level of competence that is necessary
for engineers and technicians to carry out different activities
ISO 817: 2005 – Refrigerants – designation and system classification; this
covers the R-numbering system for refrigerants and the means for
their safety classification
ISO 5149: 1993 – Mechanical refrigerating systems used for cooling and
heating – Safety requirements; this current version is rather dates, but
it is currently under revision and is similar to EN 378
ISO 916: 1968 – Testing of refrigerating systems; this covers the
determination of the technical performance of a refrigerating
system (but not the functional duty of a complete installation or the
performance of its individual components)
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