Today the HFC R-404A is one of the most commonly used refrigerants in the United States and in the world. You can find it most commercial refrigerators/freezers, in vending and ice machines, in refrigerated transport, and in specific industrial applications. 404A was originally implemented as a replacement option for the now banned CFC R-502. R-502 … Read more
Over the nearly two-hundred years refrigerants have been around there have been a variety of types and classifications. In the very beginning in the eighteen-hundreds we started with the simplest, and cleanest, of refrigerants known as natural refrigerants. These natural refrigerants consisted of naturally occurring elements throughout our wold. These could be carbon dioxide, ammonia, … Read more
Even today there are so many homeowners and companies hanging onto their old R-22 systems. Sometimes it takes a heated negotiation just to convince a homeowner to switch from R-22 over to R-410A. Now imagine trying to convince a billion dollar company to switch all of their systems away from R-22. You think it would … Read more
It was announced today via press release from the Chemours company that their new plant located in Ingleside, Texas (Outside of Corpus Christi) is now manufacturing R-1234yf refrigerant. This factory is by far one of the largest and now that it is live the capacity of HFO-1234yf being produced in the world has tripled. Today … Read more
Greetings folks! I hope everyone had a great January and was able to stay warm during the Polar Vortex. Kansas City didn’t get it as bad as some other areas as we only got down to negative five. (Only!) I apologize for not updating the past few weeks but we all need a little R … Read more
The New Year has only just begun and already we are seeing refrigerant price changes coming to the market. Earlier today one of my contacts within the refrigerant industry reached out to me to share price increases that are coming down the pipeline. While so far these changes are from one or two manufacturers, I … Read more
As most of you know we here at RefrigerantHQ are taking the time to put together what’s known as our fact and information sheets on each specific refrigerant that is out there. So far we have touched on quite a few HFC and even HFO refrigerants. But are good friends from days past, CFCs, have … Read more
Hello all. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a good upcoming New Years. I took most of the last week off of work and working on RefrigerantHQ. Sometimes it is nice to take a step back and spend some relaxing time with the family. During this time I was thinking about what I … Read more
R-12 refrigerant is one of the founding fathers of the refrigeration and air conditioning world. While there were many other refrigerants that came before the invention of R-12 there were none quite up to par and none that had all of what R-12 had to offer. But, before we get into why the refrigerant was … Read more
Let’s take a look at R-22 Freon. R-22 is an HCFC refrigerant, also known as a HydroChloroFluroCarbons. These HCFC refrigerants along with CFC refrigerants were some of the very first mainstream refrigerants seen across the world. Origin of R-22 R-12 and R-22 along with other CFC/HCFC refrigerants were invented back in the 1930’s as the … Read more
Refrigerant is something that is never thought about. Even though it can be found literally in every building, car, and grocery store today. After all, something has to keep us and our food cold. The very rare time that when we do think of refrigerant is when we are faced with an expensive bill to … Read more
A lot of the times when your air conditioner goes out the most expensive part of the repair is recharging your system with refrigerant. Sometimes this bill can be a couple hundred dollars and other times closer to-five hundred. With this high priced bill facing them a consumer sometimes considers purchasing the product on their … Read more
The term or name Freon is commonly used all over the country to describe what is inside your home or vehicle’s air conditioner. While we have all heard of this term before many of us do not really know what Freon is, where it comes from, or how it works. First, let me explain that … Read more
The refrigerant and air conditioning industry isn’t going away. In fact, just the opposite is happening. As more and more of the world becomes wealthier and people’s lives improve the amount of air conditioners, refrigerators, and freezers will grow. One statistic I read said that India is expected to purchase over one billion air conditioners … Read more
Well folks we are quickly approaching the end of another year. I’ve always heard it said by those older then me that time flies and the saying holds truer with each year that passes. I’m only thirty-two today but I swear I was twenty yesterday. It was a challenging year for my family and I … Read more
Well folks it has been a hell of a few weeks in the refrigerant industry. The past few months have been rather quiet and then we get all of this news all at once. It always amazes me how fast this stuff can happen. Just a few days ago the Environmental Protection Agency announced that … Read more
Hello everyone! I hope your Labor Day is going well. We just got back from our city’s parade and I’ve got a few hours before our barbecue so I thought I’d take some time and get an article out there. I’m going to preface this article with the disclaimer that this is an opinion piece. … Read more
The phase down and phase out of HFC refrigerants across the European Union was done to help the environment. These commonly used HFC refrigerants have an extremely high Global Warming Potential (GWP) and are now being replaced with lower GWP alternatives such as HFO’s like 1234yf and by natural refrigerants such as R-744. In order … Read more
The future is looking very bright for those pursuing a career in the HVAC/R field as technicians, installers and electromagnetic engineers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, estimates industry growth of 15 percent through 2026. By all accounts, it appears jobs will be there for well-trained graduates of HVAC/R training programs. However, the numbers are not … Read more
There is a very common misconception out there when it comes it air conditioners. I don’t care if it is an air conditioner at your home, your car, or even your office. A lot of people think that air conditioners need to be routinely recharged with refrigerant. I believe they see it almost like oil … Read more