It's April. Do You KnowWhere Your R-22 Is?

Soon, we'll be at the mid-point of 2009. How time flies when you face an EPA deadline.

The deadline in this case is January 1, 2010, when the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) restrictions on the hydrochlorofluorocarbon refrigerant known as R-22 take effect. At that time, R-22 will be available solely for use in servicing existing R-22-based HVAC equipment.

So, the question of the month is: If refrigerant were a patient in a hospital, would it be on the road to a “full recovery”?

Julius Banks, refrigerant team leader of the EPA's Stratospheric Protection Division's Alternatives & Emissions Reduction branch, says the industry is facing a good news/bad news scenario.

“There was a 20% increase in R-22 reclamation between 2007 and 2008, as reported by EPA-certified reclaimers. That's a positive step, and a direct result of contractor activity. But, I don't think anyone would argue that the amounts coming back are still much below what we'd like,” Banks says. “It's going in the right direction, but not enough to prevent concerns about shortfalls in the future, unless field activity changes.”

Refrigerant reclaimers also have mixed feelings about the status of refrigerant recovery and reclamation in light of the 2010 deadline. They also see improvement, but more needs to be done. ContractingBusiness.com spoke with representatives of some leading reclamation services, and a few HVACR contractors to learn their thoughts on the state of refrigerant reclamation.

Take Recovery Seriously

Rich Dykstra is president of Consolidated Refrigerant Reclaim (CRR), Peoria, AZ, a sister company to the Rapid Recovery network of reclamation service providers. He's also an ex-HVAC contractor now in his second go-round as a refrigerant handler. He started Refrigerant Management Services in 1992, sold it in 2000, and reentered the business in 2002.

Dykstra believes lack of information regarding recycling was a key characteristic of the HVACR industry of the 1990s. Today, he says, the information vacuum has been replaced by a large degree of contractor apathy.

“Many more wholesalers and reclaimers are doing a pretty good job of providing the infrastructure for reclamation, so that's not really an excuse anymore,” Dykstra says. “The problem now is getting contractors to take refrigerant recovery seriously.”

In Dykstra's opinion, many contractors ignore the rules, and won't spend any money to establish a refrigerant recovery plan.

“The contractor who's doing the right thing has a harder time competing with the contractor whose overhead doesn't include refrigerant recovery equipment, cylinders, or technician training,” Dykstra says.

Rather than rely on whistle-blower programs, which were used during the 1990s phaseouts, Dykstra would like to see more contractors opt to play by the rules. He hopes the growing number of wholesalers and reclamation companies will make a difference.

Les Rhynard, national sales and service manager for Rapid Recovery, agrees there's a definite need for more R-22 to be recovered and sent to reclaimers. “The trick is in getting it from the 10- to 30-ton units sitting on top of strip malls, movie theaters, and office buildings to the reclaimers,” he says. His point is that so much of the refrigerant is still in use; and when it doesn't get recovered from a system, it can't be reclaimed.

“Some contractors take charged air conditioning units directly to a scrap yard after a replacement. What happens to the refrigerant? I don't think we'd be looking at a refrigerant shortage issue if R-22 was being recovered as it should have been,” Rhynard says. Rapid Recovery teams recover refrigerant and provide contractors with documentation of the transaction. The refrigerant is then sent to Dykstra, at CRR.

Overcoming Mixed Refrigerant Cost Issues

Chris Ludwig, president, Pure Chem Separation, originally had founded a reclamation company in 1991, which he later sold. When Ludwig and his business partner, Fred Schwartz, started Pure Chem, they purchased much of the equipment from the previous company, including a large, fractional distillation column, which is central to the company's service.

Pure Chem technicians deliver a 240-pound or half-ton cylinder to a contractor's place of business. When it's full, they pick it up, and another empty is left in its place.

“We work directly with contractors because we think there are economies to that,” Ludwig says, and adds that he'd like to see more recovered refrigerant coming back into circulation. He blames much of the attitude on cost issues.