The online buzz about EPA regulations over freon has those in the heating and cooling business concerned. The regulations make the current freon obsolete and require freon based on LP propane gas. That would require completely different units installed at every home and business.
Mike Jones of Mike Jones Heating & Air LLC said he is in a Dalton conference to learn about the rules and will have more information in a few days. However, what he has heard concerns him.
“We’ve already been hearing from people who are aware of it. They don’t want LP-based Freon in their homes,” he said. Jones said he has safety concerns about LP-based Freon systems because those installing them tell homeowners they must be evacuated during installation.
A major concern is the shortened timeline for switching to new systems using the LP-based freon called R32 and R454B. The deadline was Jan. 1, 2024, to restrict the use of R-410A and R-134a in comfort-cooling chillers, according to the EPA and Jan 1 2015 will see R-410A systems limited to new rooftop and split settings
Jones said heating and air companies like his are trying to scoop up as many of the old R-410A systems to install them before the deadline. That means companies must compete in price to get the systems and spend more out now since they will no longer be made. Those costs will be passed on to customers.
However, Jones said homeowners and businesses with the old system won’t need to replace it immediately and the rule won’t prevent heating and air companies from installing them.
“For how long, I don’t know,” he said.
He said there is likely a “tremendous increase in cost” with either system.
The new EPA regulations stem from green energy bills from Washington D.C. to crack down on hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) found in things like refrigeration, air conditioning, and aerosols. It comes out of the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act passed on Dec. 27, 2020, and signed by then-
President Donald Trump as it was presented as a jobs growth bill.
AIM was a bipartisan bill authorizing the EPA to phase down HFC 85 percent by 2036. It came from international agreements under the Montreal Protocol, a 1987 agreement to save the ozone layer.
However, it was the EPA that set the new rules in September 2021 with support from the Biden-Harris administration. Changes began in 2022 after Biden signed the Kigali Amendment, a global initiative to cut carbon gases. The EPA began its phase-down on HFCs in October 2023 with the Biden-Harris Administration supporting a 10 percent reduction that year.
“Under the AIM Act, the Biden-Harris Administration is phasing down HFCs to achieve a 40% reduction of HFCs starting in 2024 and an 85% reduction by 2036,” states an EPA press release.
Former President Barack Obama began working in 2010 to phrase out HFC production and created a rule that banned some use of certain gases used in air conditioning and refrigeration.
A court struck that down in 2017 stating the EPA can’t ban HFCs under a Clean Air Provision that protects the ozone layer. The U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the ruling, striking Obama’s agenda.
This new EPA rule could also face court action as it is a retooling of the Obama rule. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled this year in the Chevron case that it’s unconstitutional for departments to set rules as laws because that is the job of Congress.
