Helen Walter-Terrinoni, AHRI vice president of regulatory affairs, discusses A2L refrigerants at the 2022 AHR Expo.
A panel discussion of the A2L refrigerant transition took place Feb. 1 at AHR 2022 in Las Vegas. Speakers were: Helen Walter-Terrinoni, vice president of regulatory affairs, Air Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI); Dick Lord, Senior Fellow at Carrier Corp.; Mary Koban, senior director of regulatory affairs at AHRI; and Jason Obrzut, director of industry standards and relations at ESCO.
Kelly Faloon/Contracting Business magazine
Helen Walter-Terrinoni, AHRI vice president of regulatory affairs, discusses A2L refrigerants at the 2022 AHR Expo.
Key takeaways:
Phase down of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). “The phase-down could be chaotic,” said Walter-Terrinoni. “We may see increased scarcity and prices. It’s all about balancing supply and demand.
A2Ls and applications. “What type of refrigerant an installer uses depends on the specific application,” Ford noted. “For example, lower-pressure refrigerants would be used in unitary residential structures.”
Safety. “A2L refrigerants went through rigorous testing at the Environmental Protection Agency before approval, and UL approved a set of standards,” Koban explained. “If installers continue using best practices, they can avoid the hazards. A2L systems will include a refrigeration detection system, an active mitigation technique where sensors are used to detect a leak and turn on the fan.
Training. “All industry stakeholders can benefit from training,” Obrzut said. Read a summary of his Jan. 31 session here.
About the Author
Kelly L. Faloon
Freelance Writer/Editor
Kelly L. Faloon is a contributing editor and writer to Contracting Business magazine, Contractor and HPAC Engineering. The former editor of Plumbing & Mechanical magazine, Faloon has more than 20 years experience in the plumbing and heating industry. She started a freelance writing and editing business in 2017, where she has a varied clientele.
Faloon spent 3 1/2 years at Supply House Times before joining the Plumbing & Mechanical staff in 2001. Previously, she spent nearly 10 years at CCH/Wolters Kluwer, a publishing firm specializing in business and tax law, where she wore many hats — proofreader, writer/editor for a daily tax publication, and Internal Revenue Code editor.
A native of Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula, Faloon is a journalism graduate of Michigan State University. You can reach her at [email protected].
