The Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy has sent letters to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt urging that the United States uphold its commitments to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, and the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol that was adopted in October 2016.  

“DOE has been taking up all my (expletive) time.” That’s the kind of statement you can overhear at a trade show that you wouldn’t necessarily see on company letterhead. And, in fact, it’s exactly what I overheard between two gentlemen as I made my way from booth to booth at the recent National Restaurant Association show.

Unprecedented. Unconventional. Chaotic. Exhausting. Whatever adjective you use to describe them, the first 100 days of the Trump presidency were a crazy time for our nation. People across the country — and around the world — have watched and tried to understand the policy directions of this White House. What have the first 100 days meant for the HVACR industry and what do they portend for the future?

The QCC2 and QCC3 air-cooled scroll-compressor condensing units are part of Johnson Controls’ portfolio of ready-to-ship products. They are designed for applications ranging from 15-160 ton and may be paired with indoor air handlers using direct expansion (DX) evaporator coils. 

Although there may be a temptation to simply treat A2L refrigerants as equivalent to ammonia with respect to flammability hazard, ammonia really is an entity unto itself. Like an A2L, it exhibits a low-flame velocity in flammability tests, but ammonia has the unique safety advantage of a strong and unmistakable odor that is typically present long before the onset of a flammability hazard. All of the current A2L refrigerants, on the other hand, are odorless.

R-134a has a global-warming potential (GWP) of 1,430. This means it traps 1,430 times as much heat per kilogram as carbon dioxide does over a 100-year period. Because R-134a has such a high GWP, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) listed R-134a as an “unacceptable” refrigerant for certain refrigeration and air conditioning applications under its Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) program.

To prevent unnecessary return visits (aka callbacks) for your company or future issues for your customers, here are some helpful items to remember when completing a repair. It can be easy to overlook some of these items, but taking the extra time to complete them before leaving the call can pay off in the long run.

The SRS3 Wireless Refrigerant Scale delivers accurate measurements for residential or light commercial facilities and sends those measurements either to the SRS3 remote handle or directly to the Fieldpiece Job Link™ mobile app to record and document refrigerant use.

The Epic Unit Cooler Series is ideal for medium and large walk-in coolers and freezers, distribution facilities, dock arrangements, and storage facilities. Sleek and lightweight, the Epic units provide excellent airflow and are available in many fan and coil combinations.

Members of The NEWS’ trainer panel examined compressor valves and determined the best methods for maintaining valves, diagnosing faulty ones, and implementing proper troubleshooting techniques when they go bad.