Almost two months ago on August 8th, 2017 a federal court ruled against the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed ban and phase-out of HFC refrigerants. Originally, the EPA had planned phase out of HFC refrigerants to begin next year with R-404A and again in 2020/21 for R-134a. I’ve written about this ruling before so I will … Read more
Greetings everyone! I welcome you this weekend to breaking news in the refrigeration world. On August 8th, just a few days ago, a Federal Court in Washington D.C. ruled against the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed phase-out of HFC refrigerants. The lawsuit against the EPA and federal government was brought by one of the largest manufacturers of … Read more
Well folks the do-it-yourselfer air conditioning repairman will be quickly coming to a close at the end of this year. No more novices trying to ‘recharge’ their system. No more guys just dumping more refrigerant in. Well, we can at least hope so…unless these guys have a friend in the business. Some of the techs … Read more
The race is on to find suitable alternatives to R-404A. In 2009 the Honeywell corporation invented a new refrigerant called Genetron Performax (R-407F). This new refrigerant is an HFC blend containing forty percent of R-134a, thirty percent of R-125, and thirty percent of R-32. The thinking behind this refrigerant was to come up with a … Read more
Rather you like it or not folks R-410A will be going away and it’s going to be happening a lot sooner than everyone thinks. In 2015 the Environmental Protection Agency announced that they will beginning the initial steps of phasing out R-404A in July of 2016, January 2017, and 2018. Along with that they also … Read more
Hello ladies and gentlemen! It’s that time of year again. The cold wind is blowing, the snow is falling, and the temperature barely gets over twenty degrees across half of the nation. Instead of thinking about the cold I’m thinking about the summer. What will the heat be like next summer? How bad will it … Read more
Well ladies and gentlemen it’s that time of year again. The time of year when a cold wind blows, the temperature doesn’t rise above thirty degrees, and snow flurries fall from the sky. What better time than now than to talk about refrigerant? It’s the slowest point in the season and it seems that when … Read more
Regardless of your politics last month’s election was definitely a surprise. Obviously, the election of Donald Trump will have a profound impact on the country and the rest of the world. The question I ask to you is what kind of impact will he have on the United States’ refrigerant market? Now, we all know … Read more
Hello ladies and gentlemen! It looks like another year is passing us by again and with another year comes a whole other set of possibilities. As I write this article it is twenty odd something degrees outside and we’re expecting some snow in Kansas City tomorrow. Some may say it’s a funny time to write … Read more
It was announced yesterday that the government of India will be likely to impose anti-dumping measures on Chinese imported R-134a refrigerant. The proposed tariff would be $1.22 per kilogram of refrigerant brought in, or for us Americans an additional $00.55 per pound on 134a Chinese imports. The goal of adding tariffs to the imported Chinese … Read more
Towards the end of last year the Environmental Protection Agency proposed a new rule that would modify the current Refrigerant Sales Restriction. As it is today if you wish to purchase CFC or HCFC refrigerants such as R-12, R-22, or R-502 you would need to either be 609 or 608 certified with the Environmental Protection Agency. The … Read more
Yesterday I did a post about the upcoming meeting in Dubai to discuss the phase out of HydroFluroCarbons. Well, before we can phase out HFC refrigerants we need to have a suitable replacement product. The refrigerant industry is moving towards HydroFluroOlefins, or HFOs, instead of the alternative natural refrigerant such as CO2, Propane, or Ammonia. … Read more
In just a month from now one-hundred and ninety-seven countries will meet in Dubai for the twenty-seventh meeting of the Montreal Protocol Treaty. The meeting is to start on November 1st and is expected to last most of the week. Unlike in the past where these meetings were held to discuss the damaging of the O-Zone … Read more
Last week the French President Francois Hollande held a Climate Conference in Paris backed by the United Nations. This conference involved many countries from across the globe and one of it’s main objectives was to hash out an agreement on an amendment to the Montreal Protocol that would ban HFC refrigerants across the world. HFCs … Read more
Yesterday I wrote an article detailing the announcement by the EPA to begin phase out of HFC refrigerants across the United States. This first announcement covers R-134a and R-404A. (Others are included, but these are the biggest affected.) The article can be found by clicking here. Now that these changes have been announced the next … Read more
What better way to start the celebration of July fourth than the announcement by the Environmental Protection Agency that the United States will be phasing out of HydroFluroCarbon refrigerants over the next few years? Well, just today the EPA signed a document outlining the phase out of HFC refrigerants. Yes, that’s right. You read that … Read more
Attention: A new article from December of 2016 can be found by clicking here. Here we go again. Yesterday the American Hydroflurocarbon Coalition filed a lawsuit with the United States Department of Commerce claiming that HFC refrigerants such as R-134a, R-410A, and R-404A are being imported from China at an unfair price. This is big … Read more
Attention! Please click here for an updated article on this subject from December of 2016. Thank you! It really depends on where you are at in the world. If you live within the European Union you know that 134a was phased out back in 2011 for all new model vehicles and it will be phased … Read more
I did a post on 2015 refrigerant predictions last November and figured I would do another post predicting this summer’s pricing as well as the fall and even into 2016. After all, it’s been six months since my last prediction post and a lot has changed. So, what is the price per pound on refrigerant … Read more
I wrote in a previous article about how India has finally come out in favor of phasing out HFC refrigerants under the Montreal Protocol. (Former article is here.) Well now India has formally submitted an amendment to the United Nations to amend the Montreal Protocol to include HFC refrigerants. This amendment was submitted a week … Read more