California has been in the news a lot lately for its unilateral push to severely limit the use of HFC refrigerants in order to meet its climate goals. In fact, lawmakers there recently passed legislation that would ban the use of HFC refrigerants completely in many types of new refrigeration equipment, including remote condensing units, refrigerated food processing and dispensing equipment (e.g., Slurpee machines; frozen yogurt dispensers; and small, self-contained refrigeration units), and refrigerated vending machines.
Even though other states have expressed an interest in emulating California’s HFC ban, they have not yet passed any laws. In fact, many contractors report that they are still primarily servicing and installing HFC equipment and have only limited exposure to HFO blends and natural refrigerants, such as CO2, ammonia, and propane. However, as more states — and possibly the federal government — move to restrict the use of HFCs, it is likely that end users will soon start moving over to these alternative refrigerants, which means contractors should be prepared for that transition.