Industry Pros Tackle Questions About A2L Refrigerants
ACHR News is out with a new podcast episode today that really clears up a lot of misinformation that HVAC pros are hearing regarding A2L refrigerants.
Editor-in-Chief Kyle Gargaro interviews Don Gillis from Chemours to get a better understanding of the new landscape for refrigerants and the implications for both HVAC pros and the customers they serve.
Don Gillis is the Senior Technical Trainer on Refrigerants at Chemours and most of his time has been spent teaching HVAC pros about the new A2L refrigerants because it is now such a hot topic.
Don is a noted authority having spent the first 24 years of his 32-year career in the field prior to becoming a Technical Trainer for Copeland and more recently Chemours.
How Is The HVAC Refrigerant Landscape Changing?
The government gave the EPA the authority to regulate Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and dramatically increase the amount or reclaimed refrigerant in use.
Out of all of the virgin refrigerant that is made today, we get less than 2% of that back as reclaimed refrigerant. One of the goals of the AIM Act is to get the industry to dramatically increase reclaimed refrigerant initiatives.
Overall, Gillis says there are three major steps that the EPA is going to regulate as outlined in the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act:
Allocation: A cap of how much virgin HFCs you can make. The AIM Act mandates the phase down of HFCs by 85% from historic baseline levels by 2036.
Technical Transition: Determining what the applications look like and how much refrigerant you can have in a system based on their GWP.
Reclamation: This will deal with how the industry is going to handle reclaimed refrigerant moving forward. Several options are under consideration including refillable tanks, QR codes and OEMs.
What Are The Implications For HVAC Pros Today?
It really depends on the refrigerant. There are a lot of refrigerants out there right now with higher HFCs and unfortunately anything that’s A2L refrigerant will not be able to be used in an A1 or legacy system.
Effectively right now, 410A refrigerant does not have a replacement, but fortunately as far as the big picture of HFCs high GWP, 410A isn’t really all that high compared to most. For example, 404A refrigerant has a GWP of 4,000, so you will see refrigerants like 404A phased out or phased down more rapidly than a refrigerant like 410A.
The big thing that contractors can do is recover their refrigerant. That’s going to be a big deal for HVAC pros, because recovered or reclaimed refrigerant will have a huge impact moving forward just like R22 refrigerant does now. We don’t buy virgin R22 here in the U.S. There are some other countries that still make it, but unfortunately it cannot be used here in the U.S.
In terms of refrigerant access going forward, HVAC contractors will always still have access to all of the refrigerants that are out there if you want them. The landscape is really going to be based on recovery and reclaimed refrigerant, so we’re not phasing out refrigerants like 410A. It will still be ready and available. By the time reach 2036 and everything has shifted to A2L refrigerants, we will have plenty of reclamation.
Reclaimed Refrigerant Movement Already In Motion
As someone who travels the country talking with and teaching HVAC pros on the changing refrigerant landscape, Gillis says he is already seeing companies nationwide that are making big strides toward upping their reclaimed refrigerant game. This is a paradigm shift compared to years ago when companies lacked the technology to separate refrigerants.
“If you talk to folks like Hudson, they have got all kinds of programs for reclaimed refrigerant. And they are telling HVAC pros at education events and panel discussions, “You bring the refrigerant back to us, we will buy it.”
More companies like Hudson are offering refrigerant buyback programs where they will pick up the recovery cylinders at your location, provide hydrostatic testing for cylinder recertification, send you back an equal amount of clean, freshly painted cylinders, and pay you for your recovered refrigerant.
Clearing Up Misinformation About A2L Refrigerants
Gillis traveled to 42 states last year and has fielded hundreds of questions from HVAC contractors wanting to know more about A2L refrigerants. He says of the biggest misconceptions that industry pros have about A2L has to do with propane, or A2L’s lack thereof.
“There is no propane in A2L refrigerants. In fact the A2L refrigerants are closer in terms of flame propagation to what we are using now than they are to propane. There is an A1, there is an A2L, there is an A2, and there is an A3. In the field you may hear, “mildly flammable” or “low flame propagation,” but it really has to do with the velocity at which the speed front of the flame travels. If you look at the flame comparison of an A2L with an A1, there isn’t a whole lot of difference there.”
Another frequent question that HVAC pros have regarding A2L is whether they will need to modify HVAC service vans in order to safely store the refrigerant. This is a hot topic and one which the Department of Transportation will dictate.
“As far as the material trades go, you are still going to be able to keep 440 pounds of whatever you have in the tank in your service vans, not box trucks and semis, but service vans. So the DOT did not lower that 440 number just because of the switch to A2L refrigerants. And secondly, you will not need any type of special placards on your service vans carrying A2L refrigerants.
In addition, Gillis says HVAC pros won’t need to make any special modifications for ventilation in your service vans carrying A2L refrigerants, even though that was another hot topic and misconception. He also says A2L tanks will be able to be laid no their side in service vans, but not in semis or box trucks.
Listen To The Full A2L Conversation On The ACHR News Podcact
By this point in the podcast, Gargaro and Gillis had only scratched the surface regarding the changing landscape of refrigerants for HVAC pros and their customers. Among other topics, the podcast goes in depth on the following hot topics:
- New Tools for working with A2L Refrigerants
- What Training Should HVAC Contractors Be Getting on A2l Refrigerants?
- Using A2L Refrigerants in Ductless Systems and much more
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