Arkansas HVACR NewsMagazine November 2025

HVACR NewsMagazine November 2025

Tech News

combine these and end up with classifications A1, A2L, B2L, etc. R-22 and R-410A are A1 refrigerants. However, R-22 depleted the ozone layer, so it was phased out in 2020. Instead of focusing on the ozone layer, new regulations focus on global warming potential (GWP) . GWP is the measure of how much heat a vapor traps in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide (CO2) sets the standard and has a GWP of 1. By comparison, R-410A has a GWP of 2088. The refrigerant transition has focused on moving to lower-GWP refrigerants in HVAC (and shifting to lower-GWP products in other industries, like aerosols and foams). As we've had to begin moving away from the familiar A1s, we've seen A2Ls begin taking their place. In residential and light commercial applications, these have primarily been HFC R-32 and blend R-454B. Despite what many technical trainers and organizations have said over the past few years, many people think A2Ls have propane (R-290) in them. That is FALSE . R-290 is an A3 refrigerant (and a very good one at that), not A2L, and the A2L blends do not contain any A3 refrigerants. R-32 is a pure refrigerant, like R-12 or R-22. It does not contain any other refrigerants. R 454B is a blend made of two other A2Ls: 68.9% R-32 and 31.1% R-1234yf (an HFO refrigerant used in automotive air conditioning since the 2010s). R-290 is nowhere to be seen in that formula. A Common Misconception About A2Ls

Scroll Compressors in a Changing Regulatory Landscape Bryan Orr, HVAC School by Techs for Techs. Even techs who live under a rock know that the regulatory landscape around refrigerants has changed a lot in the last five years. Technicians, manufacturers, and distributors alike have had to adapt quickly to lower GWP targets, and the national 700 GWP cap that led the industry to use A2Ls like R-32 and R 454B in air conditioning is just the beginning. Commercial and industrial refrigeration systems are being subjected to even lower GWP limits. We've seen some obvious changes to equipment, tanks, and tools — including red service caps, left-handed threads, and brushless DC motors in recovery machines and vacuum pumps. Compressors are no exception. Different refrigerants have different operating pressures and temperatures, so compressors — which raise the temperature and pressure of the refrigerant — need to be designed to handle the temperatures and pressures of A2Ls and even natural refrigerants like CO2 and R-290 in the commercial refrigeration world. When we talk about anything related to the refrigerant transition, two things always come up: ASHRAE's refrigerant classification system and GWP. ASHRAE classifies refrigerants based on their toxicity (Class A for non-toxic or B for toxic) and flammability (Class 1, 2L, 2, and 3 in order from least to most flammable). We Review of Basic Refrigerant Terms

Quick Recap of the Refrigerant Transition

The AIM Act was signed in 2020 and authorized the EPA to set the timeline for reducing the production of high-GWP HFCs