MaintenanceInsiderRefrigerant

THE CONVERSION OF air-conditioning equipmentfrom R-22 refrigerant to R-410A refrigerant has created new costsfor apartment owners as they replace equipment and purchasesupplies for the new units. But the new units also will create further headaches if they are not properly serviced and maintained.

In “R-410A Info for Execs,” a sessionpresented at the 2010 NAA EducationConference & Exposition in June,Paul Rhodes, Supervisor and LeadInstructor for Customer Training atHD Supply Facilities Maintenance,conveyed one central message: Nomatter what approach apartmentmaintenance technicians use duringthis transition, proper service proce-dures must be followed.

“Technicians must break bad repairhabits, learn proper techniques andinvest greater time and attention to

J a n u a r y 2 0 11 UNITS 21w w w. n a a h q . o r g

Some Chilling News About Refrigerant Conversion

A New Option: Dry R-22Manufacturers recently began producing “dry” condensing unitsdesigned to work with R-22 systems. These units can be legallyproduced and installed becausethey contain dry nitrogen instead of R-22 refrigerant. Technicianssimply fill the units with R-22 during installation.

maint insider_REV_Leadership_June05.qxd 12/29/10 10:11 AM Page 3

MaintenanceInsiderRefrigerant

improving their skills when it comes to main-taining their HVAC systems,” Rhodes said.

He presented a few startling statistics, say -ing that when asked in training classes howlong HVAC units should last, technicianstoday are thrilled if a newly installed con-densing unit (whether R-22- or R-410A-compatible) remains operable for six years.This should concern owners, Rhodes said,considering that manufacturers suggest aunit’s lifespan should be roughly 20 years.The difference in predicted and actual lifespan is the result of poor and inaccurateinstallation and maintenance, he said.

“Too many times technicians aretrained through the IWS system,” Rhodessaid. “That is: I Watched Somebody.”

Costs and ConsiderationsParamount on owners’ minds is cost.

Rhodes said fewer and fewer new R-22-com-patible systems are available as the HVAC

industry shifts toward R-410A. That shift pre-sents owners with added costs, he said,because R-410A systems are more expensiveand because switching to an R-410A systemoften requires further costs to replace parts ofthe building or structure. He estimated thatthe cost of maintaining and supplying an R-410A system is roughly 15 percent to 20 per-cent higher than with R-22 systems.

On the other hand, Rhodes noted, man-ufacturers are still producing parts for R-22 systems, so those systems can bepreserved with the proper maintenance.

Many of the “new” costs with R-410Arefrigerant aren’t really new; they actuallyinvolve processes that technicians shouldalready be doing, Rhodes said. Whereas R-22systems are “forgiving,” R-410A systems aremuch less tolerant of maintenance short-cuts, he said, so owners should urge mainte-nance technicians to follow proper HVACmaintenance practices and allow them the

time and resources to do so. For example, technicians may think

they can save costs by mixing refrigerantsor using so-called substitute refrigerants,but Rhodes cautioned against those tactics.“No substitutes have been approved by anymanufacturers,” he said. Any use of substi-tutes also must follow proper charging andrecovery techniques.

One tip Rhodes offered to help simplifythe process is for communities to apply rose-colored stickers or rose spray paint to systemsor lines that are using R-410A refrigerant.This technique helps to distinguish thosesystems from R-22 systems and preventpotential inadvertent mixing of the refriger-ants. –NAA’s Paul R. Bergeron III

A recording of Rhodes’ session, along withall sessions presented at the 2010 NAA Edu-cation Conference & Exposition, is availableat www.prolibraries.com/naa/.

22 UNITS J a n u a r y 2 0 11 w w w. n a a h q . o r g

maint insider_REV_Leadership_June05.qxd 1/3/11 11:23 AM Page 4