Articles by Ron Rajecki

Clearly establishing what you want and expect from your people and understanding what they want and expect from you will go a long way toward making things run as smoothly as possible. 

A total of 148 exhibitors showed off their latest advances in all types of industrial refrigeration at the International Institute of Ammonia Refrigeration (IIAR) 2016 Industrial Refrigeration Conference and Exhibition in Orlando, Florida. Here are a few of the highlights.

The refrigerant recovery and reclamation sector is striving to keep up with the changes taking place in the world of refrigerants, which means it is constantly creating new products to seamlessly adapt to the latest batch of regulations and refrigerant phaseouts.

Some contractors have used leak-stop agents successfully for years and consider them practical and cost-effective ways to seal small, hard-to-find leaks in systems. Other contractors feel strongly that only two things belong in a system: refrigerant and oil.

What long-term implications will this have on the refrigerant-recovery industry, which has been built on recovering chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) — refrigerants that are increasingly being phased out? The answer: Change is on the horizon, but demise is not imminent.

Contractors have a wide range of choices when it comes to properly equipping their technicians to perform safe, efficient refrigerant recovery. Here’s a look at some of the latest equipment and services.  

My Point of View column in last month’s FROSTlines newsletter (Refrigerant Anti-Dumping Order: Think of It as the Price of Quality) generated some spirited feedback.

On Jan. 29, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced an affirmative preliminary determination in its antidumping duty investigation of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants from China. The situation isn’t resolved yet, but this gives the industry every reason to believe the final determination this summer will also be affirmative.

HVAC contractors are constantly seeking accurate, energy-efficient, year-round solutions to their customers’ humidification and dehumidification needs. A number of those solutions were on display at the 2016 AHR Expo in Orlando, Florida. 

Energy efficiency, integration with smart home technology, and the ongoing impact of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) regional efficiency standards are major trends influencing products in the residential air conditioning market.