USA: Major refrigerant supplier DuPont has warned US customers of an immediate need for refrigerant management planning following the US EPA's announcement of a 29% reduction in supplies of R22 this year.
Under the US EPA's recently issued 'No Action Assurance' letter, the US hvacr industry will have to exist on 39 million pounds of virgin R22 this year, compared to 55 million pounds in 2012.

DuPont's North American sales and marketing manager, Jim Bachman warned that these reductions in R22 supply signify an immediate need for refrigerant management planning including retrofit to R22 alternatives and refrigerant recovery and reclaim.

'DuPont has an active refrigerant recovery and reclaim programme,' said Jim Bachman, 'However, the rate of reclaim seen by the industry in recent years will not be sufficient to fill the gap in available R22.'

In total, over 71 million pounds of R22 have been removed from the US marketplace since 2010. The 2013 increased reduction rate, combined with the 2012 acceleration of the original R22 phase-out schedule, makes retrofitting existing equipment to R22 alternative refrigerants vital to mitigate R22 price volatility.

Despite these reductions in supply and large R22 price increases, the 'dry-shipping' of air conditioning units in the US continues. While the US law bans the sale or distribution equipment containing R22, there is nothing to stop manufacturers from producing R22 units for charging on-site.