By now, you may have heard that Americans are switching their residential and commercial cooling systems to ones that rely on chlorine-free refrigerants. It is a move that air conditioning contractors have been preparing for since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a chlorofluorocarbon phase-out several years ago. But many Americans didn’t notice the initial announcement. As such, they are just getting up to speed on what chlorine-free refrigerants are and why the government initiated the switch. This brings us to the purpose of today’s blog: answering those two pressing questions, in layman’s terms, for those who may still be bewildered by the mandated change.
Simply put, chlorine-free refrigerants are kinder to the environment. They are less likely to contribute to certain types of pollution and ozone depletion, but they are not totally impact-free. For example, many environmentalists believe that refrigerants still contribute to greenhouse emissions. Consequently, investigative work goes on in the hopes that an environment-neutral cooling system will be discovered in the future.
Until that time, Americans will have to rely upon chlorine-free refrigerants to get the job done. Residential and commercial consumers with old-school systems in place and concerns about financing the switch should note that making the move towards kinder systems may not be as expensive as initially expected. Air conditioning contractors have come up with cost-effective ways to complete retrofits.
In retrofit situations, the existing residential or commercial cooling system is often modified in at least two ways. First, some of the systems’ internal components are either replaced or altered to accommodate the new refrigerant. Second, the refrigerant is altered in order to make it compatible with the system’s new or modified parts. To find out if an existing system is a candidate for a retrofit or replacement, please reach out to an air conditioning contractor today.