As rink owners look to shift away from R-22 — a hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) that is widely used in ice rinks across the U.S. and Canada — they face the challenge of selecting an alternative refrigerant that delivers equivalent capacity and proven performance but without disrupting rink operations. New production of R-22 will cease at the end of 2019.

Springtime means many different things to many different people: Love in the air; baseball, golf, and grilling; shorts and sunscreen; a rebirth; a triumph of the dogged determination of life to begin anew after winter.  Or, for those in the refrigeration industry, spring of 2017 means just three more cooling seasons until the only R-22 on the market will be what’s available through reclaimers or in individual inventories (a.k.a. stockpiles).