Contributed by Paul Stehle, FRACCA President
If you’re an air conditioning contractor in America you are on the front lines of perhaps our most dangerous era. While we are used to weird refrigerant rules, this one is in a class of its own. Now that the A.I.M. Act is in full swing, we are not allowed to install new equipment that requires 410A. At present 32 and 454B are the refrigerants of the day (actually for the next 4 years, at which at that point we can turn our customers’ homes into potential bombs). 454B is in a very troublesome place. We have gas but a shortage of cylinders and valves have created a pricing nightmare. Our manufacturers are “allotting” 454B because they have an inventory problem. The price of 454B has tripled and more in the last month. Supply and demand will just amplify the pricing issues. Who the hell planned this?
Municipalities are not sure how to inspect this new refrigerant. Some say that 454B refrigerant lines need to be run in their own fireproof chase making changeouts in condominiums a whole new challenge. Some inspectors say that because 454B is “slightly flammable”, they don’t want the lines going through other people’s residences. This will create an “open permit” issue that will mess with us for years to come. Where do we go from here?
As this is a federal issue, we are having to deal with United States House of Representatives and United State Senators. If you think getting your local government to react is difficult (I know because I’ve done it), or dealing with state representatives is a slow process (I know because I’ve done that too), the federal government is really tough. So far with the help of Edward Briggs, our lobbyist and a group of contractors on the FRACCA board, we have told our sad story to six Representatives and our two Senators. One of our Representatives from Florida is Neal Dunn who has written a continuing resolution (called a C/R) to relieve the refrigerant issue by reallowing 410A back to the market. It has good backing in the House but now the Senate is the problem which means we are in a stalemate. While we continue to work on the Senators , (ultimately, we need to get this passed), we are asking the House members to take our fight directly to E.P.A. Secretary Lee Zeldon for a temporary administrative halt to the enforcement of the refrigerant portion of the A.I.M. Act. We can only be successful with YOUR help. Contact your federal lawmakers and let them hear you. If you need to know who they are, contact FRACCA and we will give you the information.
Sincerely,
Paul Stehle
President
Florida Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Contractors Association (FRACCA)
Directors note: In my subsequent conversations with Paul, we explored short term options to alleviate some of the pain contractors and their customers are feeling. Is the R-454B that is available being allocated fairly so that service-based contractors can service their customers and RNC needs can be met? Is there a way for A2L equipment to be field modified to accept R-410A, with warranties being honored for those units? The following is not a solution, but whose phone number can you hand to your customer as you explain to them that they have to be patient as they wait for your allocation of R-454B to arrive?
Read a joint letter from HARDI and the AHRI about the A2L shortage HERE.
Read a Call to Action letter from FRACCA HERE.
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