While all of the other car manufacturers around the world are scurrying towards the latest and newest fad of HFO refrigerants Daimler is stepping away from the pack and creating their own alternative refrigerant method for automotive air conditioning. If we look at the automotive market today we can see one primary refrigerant known as … Read more
Some of you may have already come to this realization but it dawned on me the other day when researching for an article. When the year 2020 hits the importing or production of R-22 will be completely banned in the United States. While that may sound like a long ways away I have to warn … Read more
Opteon and Solstice refrigerants are brand names of a new line of refrigerants known as Hydrofluoroolefins. These refrigerants are very similar to their sister classification known as Hydroflurocarbons. Much like HFCs HFO refrigerants are comprised of Hydrogen, Fluorine, and Carbon. Chemically, the only difference here between HFCs and HFOs is that HFOs are unsaturated meaning … Read more
It’s that time of year again folks. The Christmas trees are out and I’ve got all of my shopping done but what am I thinking about while the ground is frozen? Refrigerant. Yup, you got it. Refrigerant. It’s always on my mind. What will the prices do next year? Will it be as crazy as … Read more
So did everyone pay a fair price on R-404A this spring and summer? Hah… I thought so. If you are like me and the rest of the world then I can guarantee that you saw a steep price rise occur on 404A towards the beginning of 2017’s season. That isn’t even mentioning the price increase … Read more
R-410A. It’s the refrigerant that everyone loves and adores, right? Well, maybe not this year. Upon researching for this article I saw so many articles, posts, and gripes about the price of R-410A over the spring and summer of 2017. In some cases depending on where and when you bought you could have seen the … Read more
There’s a soft place in my heart for R-134a refrigerant. Yes, I realize how strange that sounds but this is THE refrigerant that started it all for me. This was the refrigerant that introduced me to the industry. About eleven years ago I was in charge of purchasing R-134a refrigerant for a dealership group headquartered … Read more
If you haven’t heard of 1234yf yet then I can assure you that you will soon. Especially if you have a newer car that’s out of warranty. You’ll really hear about it then when you get a leak in your system and you get that nice recharge bill. 1234yf is the latest and greatest when … Read more
Those of you who follow my posts will know how I feel about the EPA’s SNAP Rule 20. The Rule 20 is the EPA’s planned phase out of HFC refrigerants across the United States. Depending on the application and the type of refrigerant used there were different dates that they would be phased out. This … Read more
It was announced today, December 5th, that the refrigerant company known as Airgas Refrigerants will be renamed to ASPEN Refrigerants. A few months ago Hudson Technologies announced that they had acquired Airgas Refrigerants for the approximate cost of two-hundred and twenty million dollars. This new ASPEN name for Airgas will allow Hudson Technologies to phase … Read more
Even today R-22 refrigerant is still one of the most demanded and used refrigerant on the market. Sure, over the years the HFC R-410A has slowly been eroding R-22’s market share but there are still thousands of old R-22 machines out there from 2010 or even earlier. These machines have already started breaking and with … Read more
It’s always sad news when you see a story like this. This came up on my alerts earlier this morning and I felt that I had to take some time and write about it. There have been three confirmed fatalities after an Ammonia refrigeration leak at an ice rink arena in Fernie, British Columbia on … Read more
On October 24th the state of California will hold a public workshop to discuss a proposal for reducing and ultimately phasing out HFC refrigerants from the state. The forum will be held from ten in the morning to two in the afternoon in Sacramento, CA. It can also be followed online through a live webcast … Read more
Most of you know that I got my start and interest in the industry about ten years ago when I worked as a purchaser for a larger automotive dealer group. Part of my responsibilities were to negotiate, purchase, and co-ordinate refrigerant R-134a purchasing. Occasionally, we would do some 404A for the refrigerated trucks but most … Read more
A few months ago I wrote about a company called Airgas Refrigerants. Every time I see that company’s name I get a little nostalgic as it brings me back to my days when I was buyer and was in charge of purchasing R-134a refrigerant for my former company. Back then, and still today, Airgas was … Read more
R-410A, also known as Puron, is arguably becoming one of the most popular refrigerants in the world. It rose to prominence here in the United States in the year 2010 when it’s predecessor, the HCFC R-22, was banned due to the Chlorine that it contained. Ever since then R-410A has primarily been used on all … Read more
You may have noticed these while looking through Safety Data Sheets. You may have noticed them when looking at labels on refrigerant cylinders. I hope you noticed them while you were in the classroom. Either way, there are a lot of questions about how refrigerants and their safety group classifications and I’m going to do … Read more
R-1234yf, or HFO-1234yf is soon to be one of the most popular refrigerants in the world. Making it’s debut in the early 2000’s it has quickly rose to power and will soon be the dominant refrigerant in the automotive industry. Today, as I write this in October of 2017 there are approximately thirty-five million cars … Read more
Most of you in the automotive industry have already heard of the new HFO 1234YF refrigerant. Depending on where you are in the world you may have already come across 1234YF vehicles during service appointments. If you haven’t heard of it or seen it by now I can assure you that it is coming. As … Read more
Last week I wrote an article going into how Honeywell and Chemours are filing an appeal to a federal court’s ruling that overturned the EPA’s phase out of HFC refrigerants. I explained how this was exactly what I thought would happen. These two behemoths aren’t going to sit back and watch their investments into HFO … Read more