Waiting Game 

While the busy summer cooling season has yet to arrive across most of the U.S., Scott Larson, CEO of Gustave A. Larson Co. in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, is already concerned about the shortage of R-454B. His goal was to gradually transition their stock from R-410A to R-454B starting in October 2024, but problems started cropping up in December. 

“We were able to bring in a few skids of R-454B before our supplier informed us they could not provide shipping dates for our future purchase orders,” said Larson. “At this time, we have not been provided a timeline as to when our backlog purchase orders will be fulfilled or when the lead times will return to normal. There has been minimal clarity regarding improvement of product availability, but the most recent comment heard was Q1 2026 as a possible date.” 

As a result, the Wisconsin wholesale distributor has limited the amount of refrigerant each customer can purchase and now requires it to be bought along with an R-454B outdoor unit. Larson noted that they want to make sure their contractors have enough of the refrigerant to perform equipment installs this summer. 

“Our customers have expressed concerns about the availability of R-454B in the marketplace,” he said. “We’ve already sold through the majority of our R-410A equipment, requiring contractors to move to R-454B equipment. With no R-454B to sell along with the equipment, contractors are either holding off on the install or are required to return to the job at a later date to complete the charge.” 

This may have affected some contractors’ ability to sell new R-454B equipment, but the impact may be limited, said Larson, since the units come pre-charged and usually only require a small amount of refrigerant for installations. He encourages his contractor customers to maintain open communication with their sales representatives, and for project work, he says his company will coordinate directly with the refrigerant supplier to secure adequate supplies and ensure timely delivery. 

“Our suppliers have announced plans to expand production and filling capacity mid-year, but they have not expanded on the details,” said Larson. “The next challenge they are facing is the limited supply of domestic raw materials, which will force them to import product. With the current state of tariffs, this will only drive up the price of R-454B. I believe we will see a supply chain shift in the second half of the year, but it will come at a price.” 

Enough For Now 

Meier Supply, based in Conklin, New York, has seen an uptick in requests for R-454B refrigerant, but the company has been able to manage demand so far, said Dale Norton, vice president of the wholesale distributor. He cited several reasons for this: first, the cooling season has not yet started in his area, so equipment demand hasn’t peaked; and second, the company chose to stock up on enough R-410A equipment to last through June of this year. 

“R-410A equipment has been readily available from our inventory, which has lowered the pressures from the limited access to R-454B,” he said. “We have also restricted access to our R-454B inventory to our current refrigerant customers and equipment dealers, limiting purchases to three per invoice.” 

Given this strategy, Norton believes they will be fine for the time being, noting that they’ve received an allocation of R-454B that should be sufficient to support their equipment sales through June.  

“Our primary refrigerant supplier expects supply issues to soften at that time, so this will not be a long-term issue,” he said. “I’m being told by the manufacturer that the supply issues are caused by the shortage of containers, and there was also a general failure to forecast the initial demand of R-454B.” 

The message Norton is sending to customers is that they have an inventory of R-454B refrigerant in place to support their R-454B equipment installs through early summer. He added that while the company has not yet been affected by refrigerant supply issues, “We are ordering as much R-454B product that is available to us in preparation for potential shortages.” 

Watsco Inc., a nationwide HVACR distributor, also believes the R-454B shortage will improve sooner rather than later. During their Q1 earnings call, Paul Johnston, executive vice president, stated, “There’s been a shortage, and everyone in the industry is currently on allocation… R-454B has become increasingly difficult to obtain, but is it going to impact us longer term? No, it's not. … All the equipment is pre-charged with R-454B, so there's no shortage of R-454B. It's strictly the container that's missing right now.” He added that the cylinder shortage should be resolved by June. 

According to Johnston, the majority of their residential equipment sales in the first quarter were R-410A systems, with only 20% or 25% being R-454B.  

“Early in the second quarter, we're starting to see the transition over to the A2L product. And hopefully, that will continue as the summer goes on, because we're going to be out of R-410A probably by the end of the quarter.” 

As the R-454B shortage continues to unfold, HVACR distributors are being proactive by adjusting inventory strategies and maintaining close contact with suppliers. While the situation remains fluid, many are hopeful the refrigerant shortage will be resolved soon, allowing them to meet demand and support contractors through the cooling season.