Time is running out for R22 users…!
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For those companies who are still using R22 and have not completed their re-investment plans for alternative plant, a timely reminder that the exemption which allows the use of recycled and reclaimed product for service and maintenance expires on 31st December 2014. According to the Food Storage and Distribution Federation in 2011, around 75 R22 locations were still registered under their Climate Change Agreement.
Those companies who have continued to use their HCFC plant, using top up reclaimed R22, will have already seen the price of reclaimed R22 double over the last year or so, and it is clear that availability will also diminish over the next twelve months, as more and more refrigeration plants are taken out of use and scrapped. So it is decision time as demand for reclaimed R22 is likely to grow towards the end of 2014..!
At the same time, planning for the future will also need to take account of the F – Gas Regulation review currently progressing through the European Parliament. The latest news, hot from the Press in Brussels, indicates that there have been a number of compromises achieved in the discussions and negotiations between EU Members of Parliament on the ENVI environment committee, the European Commission, and the wider European Legislature. Details of the phase down/out programme will be circulated as soon as details of the new Legislation have been confirmed. Even so, it would be very unwise to replace older R22 based equipment with high GWP refrigerants such as R404a.
On top of this, the FSDF says that most refrigeration suppliers already have full order books for the next twelve months, and already insurers are considering the removal of cover from January 2015 for loss of product or service, which might result from losing coolant from an R22 system. So you might check with your insurer now to make sure you remain insured..!
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