Some of you may be slightly confused by the new refrigerant sales restriction that went into effect on January, 1st 2018. This new rule prevented users from purchasing HFC refrigerants such as R-410A, R-404A, and R-134a unless they were certified with the Environmental Protection Agency.
This was quite the change as in 2017 and all the years prior purchasing HFC refrigerants wasn’t a problem. The restriction only applied to Ozone damaging refrigerants such as R-12 and R-22. With this new restriction it put a lot of do-it-yourselfers in a tough spot. They either had to get 608/609 certified with the EPA or they had to hire a professional to do the work that they themselves had been doing for years. Seems kind of backwards if you ask me.
Well, I have good news for you if you are on the automotive side of things. There was an exception made to the EPA’s refrigerant sales restriction. The except reads like this, “EPA is not restricting the sale of “small cans” containing less than 2 pounds of substitute refrigerants (e.g., HFC-134a) for use in MVACs.” -Source is from the EPA’s website which can be found by clicking here.
What that means is that the automotive tinkerers of the world can still get their R-134a cans either in the local auto shops or on Ebay.com. Personally, I prefer to purchase nearly everything on Amazon nowadays, but they’re not there anymore. It’s easier and I don’t have to get out of my chair.