Carrier Fan Coil Units with Asbestos Insulation

Product Description

Carrier Corporation, founded in 1915 and widely recognized as a pioneering manufacturer in the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) industry, produced a broad line of fan coil units used in commercial, industrial, and institutional settings throughout much of the twentieth century. Fan coil units are self-contained air-handling components that circulate heated or cooled air within a building by passing air across a coil — typically supplied with hot or chilled water — and distributing it through a space using an integrated fan assembly.

These units were installed in a wide range of environments, including hospitals, office buildings, schools, hotels, manufacturing facilities, and military installations. Because fan coil units required thermal regulation to protect internal components, reduce heat transfer losses, and improve overall system efficiency, manufacturers routinely incorporated insulating materials into their construction. During the mid-twentieth century — when the hazards of asbestos were not yet subject to regulatory control — asbestos-containing materials were commonly used for exactly this purpose across the HVAC industry.

Carrier fan coil units from this era were manufactured and distributed at scale, meaning they were installed in large quantities across the United States and internationally. Many of these units remained in service for decades, extending potential exposure well into the period when asbestos regulations began to tighten under frameworks such as the Environmental Protection Agency’s Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) and OSHA’s asbestos standards codified at 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1001 and § 1926.1101.

Asbestos Content

Litigation records document that Carrier fan coil units manufactured during portions of the twentieth century contained asbestos-containing insulation materials incorporated into the unit’s construction. Plaintiffs alleged that asbestos was present in various forms within these assemblies, including insulation applied to internal components, ductwork connections, and casings designed to limit heat transfer and protect mechanical elements from temperature extremes.

Asbestos was a material of choice for HVAC insulation during this period because of its fiber structure, which provided exceptional resistance to heat, fire, and moisture. Chrysotile (white asbestos) was most commonly used in commercial insulation products, though amphibole varieties such as amosite and crocidolite were also present in certain industrial-grade materials. The specific asbestos content of any individual Carrier fan coil unit would depend on its model designation, production date, and the specifications of the components sourced from third-party suppliers, as was common practice in large-scale manufacturing.

Plaintiffs alleged that the asbestos insulation within these units was friable or became friable over time — meaning it could be crumbled by hand pressure and release respirable fibers into the air — particularly when units aged, were disturbed, or were subject to routine maintenance and replacement procedures.

How Workers Were Exposed

Litigation records document that industrial workers and tradespeople encountered Carrier fan coil units across a variety of occupational settings throughout the latter half of the twentieth century. Exposure is alleged to have occurred during installation, routine servicing, repair, removal, and replacement of these units in commercial and industrial buildings.

Workers most directly implicated in litigation include those generally categorized as industrial workers who maintained or operated HVAC systems in facilities where fan coil units were installed. These individuals may have worked in manufacturing plants, processing facilities, power generation sites, and other heavy industrial environments where large numbers of fan coil units were deployed as part of climate control or process air-handling systems.

Plaintiffs alleged that disturbing the asbestos-containing insulation on these units — whether by cutting, trimming, scraping, or simply handling aged and deteriorating materials — could release asbestos fibers into the breathing zone of nearby workers. Because many industrial facilities operated with limited ventilation and workers often labored in close proximity to one another, fiber release from one worker’s activity could expose multiple individuals in the same space.

Litigation records also document allegations that bystander exposure occurred, meaning workers who were not directly handling asbestos-containing fan coil unit components may nonetheless have inhaled fibers released by colleagues working in the same area. In industrial environments where fan coil units were a persistent feature of the built environment, this pattern of exposure could accumulate over many years.

OSHA’s current permissible exposure limit (PEL) for asbestos is 0.1 fiber per cubic centimeter of air as an eight-hour time-weighted average. However, no safe threshold for asbestos exposure has been established by health authorities for carcinogenic risk purposes, and the diseases associated with asbestos — including mesothelioma, asbestosis, and lung cancer — are known to develop decades after initial exposure, a latency period that often complicates diagnosis and attribution.

Documented Product Identification

The following details are drawn from public asbestos litigation records, manufacturer catalog pages, technical manuals, and corporate history materials. Each item reflects the product as documented in those sources.

Documented asbestos-use period: 1922-??

Corporate context: Carrier Corporation, headquartered in Syracuse, N.Y., became a subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation (UTC). The company is also named individually and as a successor to Bryant.

Brand identification: Brand names include: Carrier, Day & Night, Payne, Bryant

Documented asbestos components: packing, gaskets, pre-formed gaskets, coated insulation boards, rope caulking.

Documented asbestos-component suppliers: the public records lists the following external suppliers of asbestos-bearing packing, gaskets, and seals used in conjunction with this manufacturer’s equipment — Durabla.

Industries served: U.S. Navy, Marine, Submarine construction.

Naval / marine service: This manufacturer’s equipment is documented in connection with U.S. Navy and commercial-marine service.

Documented product lines:

• 170 Ton Absorption Refrigeration Machine (1960). Naval shipboard absorption refrigeration system using lithium bromide solution for climate control on submarines. — asbestos components: packing, gaskets.

Carrier absorption refrigeration machines were installed on U.S. Navy FBM submarines including SSB(N) 608-636 class vessels built at Electric Boat Division, Newport News, Mare Island Naval Shipyard, and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. Asbestos packing was used in diaphragm control valves.