Has it come to this? Well,
not yet, but possibly soon! I recently read an article telling of how some
companies are marketing a hydrocarbon refrigerant to replace R-22 in air
conditioners, and they are marketing it to consumers, not HVACR supply
houses.
Our industry talks a lot
about indoor air quality, and whenever engineers design a commercial,
institutional or industrial building, great care is usually taken to ensure
proper air movement and ventilation.
The most important new product to enter the indoor air quality market since the invention of the electronic air cleaner more than 50 years ago is the ultraviolet lamp.
After walking miles and miles through Chicago’s McCormick Place at the 2012 AHR Expo and hitting virtually every HVACR-related booth over a continuous eight hours to the point where I could hardly stand, I welcomed the opportunity on the second day to sit through several programs put on by manufacturers - but I was one of the few. Later in the day, there were only two of us in the room to listen to a couple of very interesting presentations on products that I had missed on my walk the day before.
Last year, at this same time I wrote that experts at the 2011 AHR Expo
warned there might be severe refrigerant shortages and price increases due to
the lack of a key ingredient, fluorspar from China. Although there have indeed
been some drastic price increases, especially when it comes to R22, the
shortages simply didn’t happen. Why not? Well, according to one source,
everything became available for the right price. Need I say
more?