When I first started working at my dad’s refrigeration shop back in the 1980s, we carried three refrigerants on our service trucks: CFC-502, CFC-12, and HCFC-22. For the most part, these three refrigerants covered the majority of the systems we serviced. There were, of course, other refrigerants we encountered, but that was a rare occurrence for us.
With the phaseout of CFC and HCFC refrigerants, and now the push to use refrigerants with a lower GWP, there are many more refrigerants in use today. Deciding which refrigerants to carry today takes a little planning. Ultimately, it will depend on the size of your service truck and the equipment you currently service. But now you also have to develop a plan to handle systems using refrigerants you do not normally carry. This is a little more difficult, but here are some possible ideas.