Retail Observer

RETAILOBSERVER.COM JANUARY 2017 64 A recent meeting in Rwanda has perhaps provided some clarity on the global efforts to control greenhouse gasses, and the impacts to the United States refrigeration and air conditioning market. At the meeting, envoys of major countries, including the U.S. and China, agreed to phase out hydrofluorocarbons from cooling appliances, aiming for an 80% reduction by 2045. The hydrofluorocarbons, commonly known as HFC's, are considered an environmental problem; a "greenhouse gas" that have been considered a key ingredient in man-made climate change, or what was once known as "global warming". Experts in the field say the agreement, when and if it is fully implemented, will make a big difference in global warming, removing the equivalent of 70 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the air by 2050. Manufacturers in the U.S. were relatively pleased with the Rwanda agreement, in comparison to the Environmental Protection Agency's plan to phase out HFC's as early as 2024 in the case of refrigerators. While they are currently still bound to the EPA's more burdensome requirements, it is considered likely the U.S. industry will use the global agreement to press for more time than the EPA deadline currently offers. The challenge remains in identifying an alternative to HFC's that is safe, effective and affordable. Not to mention one that is agreeable to everyone- one only has to recall the purge of R12 years ago to understand how these things seem to change over time. So, no matter what your leanings are toward climate change and global warming, these things are taking place. What does that mean for the service industry? How do you adapt and prepare to face the seemingly ever-changing requirements to work on refrigeration systems? Or, do you become one of the growing number of service providers that throw up their hands and refuse to work on system repairs? The fact is that you need to take a look at the current landscape and where things may change. It is likely that the industry ends up with an entirely new product that will need to be worked with, and it may not even be on the radar yet. You will need to keep an eye on the situation, but there are a couple things that can be done now to prepare your company for what may be coming. First and foremost are the flammable refrigerants such as R600. These refrigerants contain butane and must be handled a bit differently than standard refrigerants. They are not new — many off-shore refrigerators use a butane based refrigerant, and some U.S. manufacturers are also making some moves in this direction. At the recent National Appliance Service Convention (NASC) in Dallas, there were several classes that took a hard look at the specifics of servicing a product with an R600. Included were a look at the tools and techniques that were critical to safely and effectively handling system repairs. As brazing is going to become less of a factor, different tubing practices, such as the use of the "Lok-ring" tool, were reviewed in depth. As we all move forward in our product training, instruction in the correct service practices associated with new refrigerant will be a huge factor. It was previously noted that we may not even know what type of refrigerants will be used in the next 8-10 years, so it is incumbent on the manufacturers, tech schools and appliance service associations like PSA to work closely to make certain that the appropriate training and education is provided to the industry. As noted earlier, many service companies are getting out of the system repair business, and this is not necessarily a good move for the industry. It is, of course, important for the service professional to make decisions that work for their business, but it is also important to take the customer's needs and desires into consideration. Most customers, including your long time and dependable customers, consider you as the source for all appliance repairs. They are not going to associate a system repair with anything other than an inconvenience that they depend on you to repair. If you have to advise them that you do not do this work any longer, and even if you believe your reasons are solid, they likely will not understand. You then run the risk of losing this customer to a different service provider that does offer this service. Moving forward, take a hard look at what is going on in our industry. PSA stands ready to assist you in providing training and helping determining the best course of action for you and your business. S E R V I C E D E P A R T M E N T Randy Carney - PSA Executive Director RO PREPARE FOR REFRIGERANT CHANGES IN A CHANGING WORLD

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