Hyderabad: Fake refrigerants major threat in summer

Hyderabad: This could be a silent killer. Counterfeit refrigerants, which are being used in place of genuine refrigerants in air conditioners and other cooling processes, are turning out to be an unknown but major threat with many small scale dealers and retailers turning to these, and in the process, ignoring safety.

With some going to the extent of using even LPG to mix with other illegal gases to use as refrigerants, the rising temperatures during summer coupled with a short circuit or the smallest of sparks can be really dangerous, say experts.

According to RPP Singh, managing partner of the city-based Om Group that has been into refrigeration and allied services for the last 50 years, spurious refrigerants having a role in incidents of cars catching fire, or fires in industrial areas or other fire mishaps where cylinders were involved, could not be ruled out.

The problem, he said, was that investigation into the fire ends once a short circuit is identified. But what could have been a minor fire turned into a major fire with the presence of counterfeit refrigerants, be it in a car, restaurant, home or airport or hospital, or wherever air conditioners or refrigerators are used.

With refrigeration being a key component of many industrial processes such as pharmaceutical, chemical and natural gas production apart from other daily life necessities, Singh said malevolent unregistered suppliers cut corners wherever they can.

This comes at a cost to an unsuspecting user who might not have the tools and capability to judge the authenticity of the contents of the cylinders they receive gas in, or of the gas that is filled in their air conditioners by technicians or service personnel.

500 cr worth market

In Telangana, the market for refrigerants was worth about Rs 500 crore, with not so genuine products now invading more than half of this market, which means, in summer, it is just pure luck that saves lakhs of lives, said Singh.

“The problem is that there is no proper authority to check on the spurious refrigerant market. The police can play a major role but, by checking on such traders and the authenticity of the gases they use, whether they are using unbilled products or with fake bills. There should also be more detailed probes, beyond short circuits, into car fires and other fire mishaps,” said Singh, adding that customers too were being tricked into buying spurious stuff by saying that they would not have pay for GST if they did not insist on bills.

Colour coded

Refrigerants have colour coded cylinders, but many dealers, in Hyderabad too, were selling freshly painted cylinders with no accurate colour coding or security seals, which was one way to identify the counterfeit ones, he said.

“R410 refrigerant, as per PESO (Petroleum and Explosive Safety Organisation) rules, should have a pink colour code. But we found cylinders in the local market that looked brand new, but with green colour codes,” Singh said, adding that low quality cylinders too were a major menace.

Industries can also suffer losses by using counterfeit refrigerants in the form of equipment failure, food spoilage, inefficient room cooling and personal injuries, he said.