Refrigerant reclaimers used to be the red-headed stepchild of the HVAC industry. That’s what Carl Grolle, owner of Golden Refrigerant, told The ACHR NEWS it felt like for decades. Then the HFC phasedown hit. Now, refrigerants like R-410A and R-134a are being phased down in favor of lower-GWP refrigerants such as R-32 and R-454B.

But there is still plenty of legacy equipment in use. One of the biggest issues will be stepping up the recovery and reclamation of HFC refrigerants for servicing these systems.

Under the AIM Act, EPA is establishing a program to maximize reclamation of HFC refrigerants.

Suddenly, reclaimers are in the spotlight.

There are just a handful of facilities in the U.S. to handle all the reclaim work the EPA is calling for.

One of them is Golden Refrigerant, in Livonia, Michigan, where The ACHR NEWS joined Carl on the factory floor to get a boots-on-the-ground perspective into what the HFC phasedown is really going to entail.