Arkansas HVACR NewsMagazine November 2018

What NO REGULATION Looks Like

regulation. While I have always wondered why and if the EPA 608 rule would extend into the new refrigerants, new information has made me realize how important it is to consumers that ONLY trained and licensed persons should “mess” with these new refrigerants. A lack of training within our industry has already created an “iceberg” of future problems for consumers. So called drop ins and change out of refrigerants without properly cleaning of the system will lead to AC and heat pump failure. Sure, the improper change out brings the system back to life but it is really only on “life support”. Here’s the point, training is critical to proper maintenance of HVACR systems. We cannot perpetrate on consumers the idea that ours is an industry where any monkey can do the work Whether we are talking about new refrigerants, change outs, or gas furnaces, consumers must be protected by reasonable regulation. Otherwise, we may see our industry follow the metaphor of electric distribution in India. Anyone want to volunteer to climb that pole?

America has achieved unparalleled success and progress due to our freedom, capitalism, and our entrepreneurial spirit. Yet, we have found that there are justifiable and much need times that regulation creates an orderly and more safe forward progression that actually facilitates the progress. The pictures clearly demonstrate the need for government imposed rules that make the installation and distribution of electricity safer, more efficient, and more effective. Everyone wins, including the poor Indian entangled within the maze of wire as he tries to install or make repairs. Only in India? These days, many recoil from the very thought of regulation in America. We are on a spiral that may very well end up creating this same kind of maze in many industries. These pictures are a metaphor for where we may be headed. This issue of the NewsMagazine contains an article by Howard Weiss of the ESCO Group about a possible roll back of new refrigerant