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 yet another … Read 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 can get damn hot here in … Read 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 road that … Read 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 … Read 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 theater in the … Read 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 diagnosing a refrigeration … Read 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 … Read 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 … Read 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 60335-2-8 global standard. This proposed increase would have moved the one-hundred … Read more
Hello all, hope all is well. I wanted to do a quick post here on the status of RefrigerantHQ. Earlier this week the website was down for just over forty hours. This downtime was intentional though. You see over the past year I have had random occurrences where my website would go offline. I would … Read more
Today Democratic Presidential Candidate Robert O’Rourke announced his climate action plan if he was to become president after the 2020 election. Of course, all of this is very speculative as we haven’t even gone through the primaries yet. We are still a very long ways away from the election and no one knows for sure … Read more
Another state has moved forward with phasing down HFC refrigerants such as R-404A, R-134a, and R-410A. Last week the Washington State House Bill 1112 passed the Legislature with a large majority vote. This was widely expected to pass and now all it needs is a signature from Governor Jay Inslee which is expected to happen … Read more
I’ll be the first to admit that I know very little when it comes to a transcritical system. I have seen it mentioned numerous times and have also seen that it is starting to become a trend in certain newer environmentally friendly applications. In an effort to educate myself I’m going to take a look … Read more
Well folks, as most of you know today is Earth Day. Personally, I don’t do anything to celebrate it besides walking around my property and enjoying the view. I just cleared an area by our pond this weekend and now I’ve got a nice quiet place to relax after a day’s work. As I was … Read more
Hello all, I apologize for the two e-mails in one day but I figured this one was worth it. Over the past week I have had a few notifications from my contacts within the industry about incoming price changes. First, before we get into what these changes are I want to take a look at … Read more
Last Friday the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) voted against increasing the charge limits on flammable hydrocarbon refrigerants such as propane (R-290) and isobutene (R-600a). The proposed changes aimed at increasing the global standard charge limit to five-hundred grams. Today, the International Standard known as IEC 60335-2-89 limits hydrocarbon A3 refrigerants at a charge of one-hundred … Read more
It is human nature. If the demand is high enough then the market will provide. It doesn’t matter if the product is illegal or not. If there are people willing to pay for it than others will provide the product, even if there is great risk involved. When most people hear the terms ‘black market’ … Read more
To start off with a quote from one of my favorite movies, “You ain’t no kind of man unless you got land.” – Delmar, O’Brother Where Art Thou? Well, the same can be said about tools. “You ain’t no kind of man unless you’ve got tools.” A man isn’t nothing without the right tools. I … Read more
The HFO R-1234yf is the refrigerant of the future. Or, at least, that is how it has been marketed. Yf was the first HFO refrigerant to see mainstream attention. A few years back there was immense pressure in the European Union to stop using the HFC R-134a for automotive air conditioning. The pressure was there … Read more
One of the very first steps when it comes to diagnosing your home air conditioner, refrigerator, or even your vehicle’s air conditioner is understanding the temperature and the current pressure that your system is operating at. Having these facts along with the saturation point, the subcool, and the superheat numbers for the refrigerant you are working … Read more