The new year will ring in new “green” requirements from the Environmental Protection Agency for heating and air conditioning units that threaten to hike prices and, for the first time, require flammable refrigerants in residential and commercial HVAC units.
The new rule has triggered special training requirements for technicians and fire departments as they grapple with suddenly dealing with the possibility of HVAC systems catching fire, although testing shows the risk under most circumstances is low.
“It’s certainly a unique challenge. We’re trying to balance environmental considerations with fire safety in this particular instance,” Robin Zevotek, an engineer at the National Fire Protection Association, said.
The NFPA offers a training course to help the fire service handle the “unique challenges presented by these new refrigerants,” which, under certain circumstances, could catch on fire more easily than the non-flammable refrigerants the EPA is phasing out.
Beginning Jan. 1, manufacturers can no longer build heating, ventilation and air conditioning units that use a non-flammable refrigerant known as R-410A, a hydrofluorocarbon that, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, is a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming if it leaks from equipment into the atmosphere.
Instead, manufacturers must build all new systems that can accommodate a hydrofluoroolefins refrigerant that is slightly flammable but considered less of a danger to the climate than hydrofluorocarbons, which the Biden administration has sought to largely ban by 2036.
Consumers purchasing equipment will face price hikes that HVAC companies say will come with the new EPA requirements.
Some companies anticipate price increases of up to 30% on HVAC systems due to the cost of new equipment, additional training and longer installation and servicing times. The cost of the refrigerant is also likely to be higher, companies warned.
The systems will require special leak detection sensors, for example, that can shut down the HVAC compressors and turn on a fan motor to dilute the refrigerant leakage with the air to reduce flammability.
A new HVAC unit in 2024 costs $7,500 on average. Prices have been climbing annually due to inflation, labor costs and supply chain issues.
The new refrigerant rule won’t immediately affect existing systems or limit their repair, upkeep or usage, but those in the market for a new air conditioner may be in for sticker shock.
Customers with older models could eventually face higher maintenance costs as the older refrigerants and parts are phased out and become more scarce.
“If you replace your AC after the phaseout begins in January 2025, your costs could increase by as much as 30%. This is because it’s more expensive for manufacturers to produce HVAC systems that use the new refrigerants,” the staff at Air Treatment Heating and Cooling, based in Fairfax, Virginia, advised customers in October.
Francis Dietz, spokesman for the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute, which represents HVAC manufacturers, downplayed the impact of the refrigerant changes, saying consumers won’t notice a difference.
The institute advocated for the EPA to require the new refrigerants nationwide to prevent manufacturers from having to comply with a patchwork of refrigerant regulations issued by individual states such as New York and California that sought to ban HFCs.
“If you have one rule for the entire nation, that keeps prices down,” Mr. Dietz said.
Mr. Dietz said the new, mildly flammable refrigerant presents “a very calculated, very minor risk” that will not put consumers in danger and will not significantly raise the cost of equipment.
The institute has tested the refrigerants and determined they pose a very low flammability risk, he said, and states have already implemented changes to residential and commercial buildings to safely accommodate the new refrigerants and HVAC systems.
HVAC company’s widespread advertising warning of a 30% price hike is unfounded, he said.
“Our members have not told us of any numbers approaching that,” Mr. Dietz said.
While the Biden administration implemented the aggressive phase-out of HFC refrigerants, it was mandated under a 2020 measure passed by Republican and Democratic lawmakers and signed by President Trump during the final weeks of his first term.
The language was tucked into a massive year-end spending bill known in Washington as “omnibus.”
The legislation’s main features were keeping the government funded and providing additional COVID-19 aid. But it also included a measure requiring the phase-out of most HFC refrigerants by 2036 and added new requirements for controlling leaks and regulating the disposal of HFC refrigerants.
“The groundbreaking new law is the biggest action this Congress has taken to meet the climate crisis,” officials at the National Resource Defense Council, a clean-energy advocacy group, proclaimed after Mr. Trump signed the bill into law.
The impetus for the law stemmed from a 2016 agreement signed by the U.S. under the Obama administration and nearly 200 countries to phase out HFCs by 80% over 30 years.
“The ambitious phase-down schedule will avoid more than 80 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by 2050 — avoiding up to 0.5° Celsius warming by the end of the century — while continuing to protect the ozone layer,” EPA officials said.
