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HCFC Phase-down Plan

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The EPA recently released its proposed HCFC phase-down plan. This memo will discuss the practical implications of the EPA’s proposed plan and the impact it will have on the day to day business of residential dealers.

To meet its obligations under the Montreal Protocol, the United States will phase out the manufacturing of R-22 based appliances on January 1, 2010. The HVAC industry has considered air conditioners and heat pumps as appliances. As part of the proposal, the EPA redefined appliances as “any device which contains and uses a refrigerant and which is used for household or commercial purposes….. Components such as condensing units, line sets, and expansion valves would not be considered appliances.” As part of the proposed ruling, the EPA has defined the date of manufacture of an appliance as:

• The refrigerant loop is completed,
• The appliance can function,
• The appliance holds the complete and proper charge,
• The appliance is ready for use in its intended purposes.

For split systems, this definition shifts the “appliance manufacturing date” from the date embedded in the manufacturer’s serial number to what the industry has historically considered the installation date. For packaged units, PTACs, and room air conditioners the manufacture date continues to be defined as the manufacture date contained in the manufacturer’s serial number.

Three weeks after the publication of this proposal, the EPA released a “Clarification Statement” that clarified several questions raised by its original proposal. One major question was if dealers could continue to install R-22 air conditioners and heat pumps after January 1, 2010. This clarification document clearly states that R-22 based air conditioners and heat pumps can be installed to service existing R-22 based appliances, “Sale and distribution would also be allowed for pre-charged appliance components that are manufactured before January 1, 2010 and used for the purpose of servicing existing (pre-2010) appliances. This means that components such as condensing units, line sets, and expansion valves that are charged with refrigerant and completely manufactured before January 1, 2010, but not yet installed in an appliance, could be sold and distributed for this purpose.” The clarification statement continues with, “Thus the proposed rules would not prohibit the sale or installation of stockpiled pre-charged condensing units that were manufactured before January 1, 2010, and used to replace a condensing unit in an existing residential split system.”

Please contact our office for clarification prior to changing out or doing expensive repairs on any HVAC system or component.