NEW England HVAC Insider News RSES Shares R-22 Phaseout Info With Public

RSES has released to the public eight technical bulletins and feature articles on the R-22 phaseout, originally available only to RSES members. The goal is to educate as many people as possible, especially HVACR professionals. There is virtually no single refrigerant like R-22 that works effectively in both refrigeration and air-conditioning applications.  However, an acceptable substitute refrigerant to R-22 for air-conditioning applications is hydrofluoro-carbon R-410A; although it contributes to global warming it does not deplete the ozone. Nonetheless, HVACR professionals must be trained in the proper installation and service procedures required to correctly use R-410A. To promote industry awareness, RSES has created an R-410A Industry Awareness page, rses.org/410a, where RSES Service Application Manual (SAM) technical bulletins and RSES Journal feature articles on the topic may be viewed.  Titles currently available include: Refrigerant R-410A; Understanding Refrigerant Tables; What Technicians Need to Know About Phasing Out HCFC Refrigerants; Refrigerant Changes Make R-410A Systems More Appealing Than Ever; The R-22 Phaseout: Do You Have a Plan?; The Rush to Recover R-22; Making the Move: R-22 to R-410A; and Addressing the Refrigerant Reclamation Challenge.  For information, please contact training@rses.org. The Montreal Protocol was created in 1987 to protect the Earth’s ozone layer by phasing out chlorofluorocarbons. It was later amended in 1992 to include a phaseout schedule for limiting and ending the production and import of hydrochlorofluorocarbons. For more than forty years a common HCFC used in the refrigeration and air-conditioning industry has been R-22. Story continues below ↓ advertisement | your ad here

As of Jan. 1, 2009, R-22 cannot be produced or imported for use in new equipment. “While RSES has been preparing its members for the Jan. 1, 2010 phaseout deadline for using R-22 in the manufacturing of new equipment for over eight years, RSES wants the entire HVACR industry to be fully educated on the alternative and replacement refrigerants that have already entered the marketplace and is taking this opportunity to share valuable content with the public,” says RSES Director of Training and Testing Renee Tomlinson. The RSES Annual Conference at the Hilton Minneapolis/ St. Paul Airport Mall of America hotel in Bloomington, Minn. on Oct. 27-31, 2009 will feature several educational sessions on this topic including: Times are Changing – Have Your Service Techniques Kept Pace; The Future of R-22 System Service; New EPA Regulations Preventing the Sale of R-22 Systems and How it Affects the Contractor; Total System Protection/System Preparation and Maintenance When Doing R-410A Conversions; Shades of Green for 2009; Secondary 101/201 Medium Temperature (Glycol); Secondary 301 Low Temperature (CO2); The Factors to Consider When Selecting a Retrofit Refrigerant; and R-22 Alternatives. Additional articles on this subject will be featured in RSES Journal later this year and in early 2010.                                                            ###