The past few weeks have been rather crazy on my side of the world. I started a new job a few weeks ago, put a contract down on a house, and the kids start school in just a month. Time is definitely flying by. I’m hoping here in a few months things will begin to calm down… but we will... more»

Hello all, hope everyone had a great Fourth of July. I took my girls out to my city’s gathering for the night while the wife stayed home with my son. It turned out to be a good night and just a few minutes after the show thunderstorms rolled in. It was perfect timing and the girls fell asleep... more»

It was announced today that the 2022 Olympics that will be held in Beijing will be using a combination of R-744 Carbon Dioxide refrigerant and an HFO refrigerant known as R-449A. In both instances this will be the first time that China has used these alternative more environmentally friendly... more»

As we all know, when January hits in 2020 R-22 production and importing will no longer be allowed within the United States. The only way to receive R-22 will be through purchasing virgin product from those distributors who have stockpiled or by purchasing reclaimed refrigerant. This simple fact is... more»

On April 4th, 2019 a suit was filed by the HFC Coalition to the International Trade Commission (ITC). This suit aimed at stopping the dumping of HFC blended refrigerants such as R-410A, R-404A, and R-407C. The ITC’s decision on rather or not to review the suit was set for a deadline in May,... more»

Well folks, we are now halfway through the year and there are only six months left until the January 1st, 2020 deadline hits for R-22 refrigerant. Yes, in just six months we will no longer be able to import or produce R-22 refrigerant within the United States. When that date arrives the only way to... more»

A few more dominoes fell this week in the HFC phase down across the United States. I had reported a few weeks ago that Washington State’s HFC phase down had passed the legislature and just needed the signature from the governor. Well, Governor Jay Inslee signed bill HB 1112 this week. This adds... more»

There is nothing more frustrating then finding that your air conditioner isn’t working during a hot summer’s day. As I write this article it’s a few days before Memorial Day and it’s already starting to get hot here in Kansas City. For those of you who don’t know, it... more»

R-134a is the most common refrigerant found in automobiles today. It has been in use since the early 1990’s and now, in 2019, we are beginning to see it’s popularity wane with the rise of the new HFO refrigerant known as R-1234yf. That being said, there are still millions of cars on the... more»

In the beginning of this year I got into the habit of writing refrigerant pricing updates as I saw them coming. Most of these have been fairly benign with a few percent increases here and there. It was last month though that I wrote a pricing update that had pricing doubling on some of the most... more»

R-744 Carbon Dioxide is one of the oldest refrigerants in the world. Its first usage can be traced all the way back to the nineteenth century. Before the popularity of CFC and HCFC refrigerants Carbon Dioxide was one of the most widely used refrigerants. Chances are if you went to a movie theatre... more»

Regardless of what system you are working on rather it is a home air conditioner, a vehicle’s air conditioner, a supermarket refrigeration system, or a large scale industrial application they all have one thing in common: Pressure. Yes, as we all know one of the very first steps when it comes to... more»

A few weeks ago I did an article on transcritical refrigeration. In that article I stated that I knew very little on the subject, but as I wrote the article I was able to teach myself a bit about it and understand the principles behind the transcritical system. Well today we are going to be doing... more»

The other day I was trying to find a comprehensive listing of which cars were using the newer R-1234yf HFO refrigerant. Over in Europe YF refrigerant is now the standard for all new vehicles. (In some cases R-744 is used as well.) R-134a is no longer used due to its high Global Warming Potential. A... more»

Last month I wrote on the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and their decision on rather or not to increase the allowed charge limit on hydrocarbon refrigerant applications. Before their decision was made the maximum approved amount was one-hundred and fifty grams under the IEC... more»