Which refrigerant does your chiller run on?

Centrifugal chillers

Centrifugal machines move large volumes of refrigerant at low pressure ratios, which historically suited low-pressure fluids. The old fleet ran R-11, then R-123 as its HCFC replacement. Both are being displaced: R-11 is long gone under the Montreal Protocol and R-123 is an HCFC on the same phase-out track as R-22. What replaces it is covered in our guide to R-123 replacements.

The mainstream modern centrifugal refrigerant is R-134a. On newer low-GWP machines you will find R-1234ze, an HFO with a GWP under 1, and R-1233zd on some low-pressure designs.

We stock R-134a and R-1234ze, and we supply R-123 in 90.8 kg drums for servicing existing R-123 chillers, under our ODS seller registration for HCFC-123. R-123 and R-1233zd are low-pressure fluids used in a narrower set of machines, and no substitute goes into a centrifugal machine safely without an engineering assessment. Send us the nameplate and we will answer on the actual machine.

Screw and scroll chillers

These are the machines most Hyderabad buildings actually have: air-cooled or water-cooled packages serving an office, a hospital, a hotel or a pharmaceutical block.

R-134a is common on water-cooled screw plant. R-410A appears on scroll packages and smaller air-cooled units. R-407C turns up both as an original charge and as the retrofit that took an R-22 machine forward, because it is the closest capacity match to R-22 of the mainstream blends.

R-22 is still running in a large installed base. That is lawful to service, and we supply R-22 for servicing existing equipment under our ODS registration. What is no longer lawful is building new equipment with it, which ended on 1 January 2025.

Blends need liquid charging

R-407C is zeotropic, with a temperature glide of several degrees. Its three components boil at different temperatures, so a vapour charge changes the composition of what is left in the cylinder and what enters the machine. Charge liquid. If a zeotropic system has leaked badly, the remaining charge is no longer the specified mixture and the correct move is to recover, evacuate and weigh in a fresh charge rather than topping up.

R-410A is near-azeotropic and R-134a is a single component, so the discipline varies, but liquid charging is the safe habit across the blends.

Ammonia and the industrial end

Large industrial refrigeration, including many ice plants and cold stores, runs on ammonia (R-717). Ammonia is efficient and has no ozone or meaningful warming impact, but it is toxic and classified B2L, and it is a different supply chain with its own licensing. We do not supply ammonia.

What we can supply

R-134a, R-410A, R-407C, R-32 and R-1234ze, plus R-22 and R-123 for servicing existing equipment. For a chiller recharge, the quantity is usually large enough to be worth confirming against stock before you commit to a shutdown date.

Related: Charging a chiller · R-134a supply · Zeotropic vs azeotropic · Hotels and hospitals