Obtain refrigerant manufacturers education and training in order to stay current with the inner-workings of the industry. Keep current with changes in the industry by continuing your education and training even after you become licensed.

Refrigerant distributors and consumers look for qualified manufacturers that offer the highest quality products. Use your education and training to achieve and edge over your competitors in the field and to keep up with the latest trends and techniques in industrial offerings. You could do this by using one of the following options:

1. Get your refrigerant certification before working with refrigeration chemicals.

2. Obtain a refrigerant manufacturers education and training through online resources.

3. Attend a conference to find out what suppliers of refrigerants want.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Find out ways to offer quality products to refrigerant suppliers by getting certified

Become educated in heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) information to learn about refrigeration systems. This will allow you to manufacture the products that distributors want to sell.

I recommend: Top-Colleges helps you locate HVAC training schools in your area and also describes in detail how training helps your career. Type your zip code into its search engine and find out where you can go to obtain an education in refrigerant handling. Ferris State University offers a degree in heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration for students interested in design, retrofitting, testing and balancing. Students receive hands-on training outside the classroom in this program.

Use online resources to become licensed as a manufacturer of refrigerants

Learn about the refrigeration chemical that you use by studying at your own pace with online offerings. Get your career training from colleges and schools offering courses on the Internet. This also frees you to work from the road or to adjust your learning around your work schedule.

I recommend: The North American Retail Dealers Association offers a self-study program that students download from its website. The course teaches about refrigerant recovery for a nominal fee. Online Education offers a list of programs and degrees where you learn about working with refrigerant chemicals. It gives students detailed information on blueprints, electronics and licensing, and it also frequently offers internships.

Broaden your refrigeration chemicals knowledge base by attending conferences and seminars

Going to conferences keeps you current with changes in the industry and keeps your work fresh. It offers you the opportunity to network with others to determine the best ways of working with a refrigerant supplier, since suppliers of refrigerants look for particular product specifications. Conferences keep you on the cutting edge of industry advancement.

I recommend: American Trainco offers two-day seminars for those interested in certification and in learning about refrigerant maintenance and troubleshooting. It also covers operations and maintenance strategies. National Technology Transfer offers seminars at hotels around the country focused on industrial training solutions. It addresses topics such as refrigeration and air conditioning.

A wrong refrigerant selection can freeze your refrigeration systems as well as make your products unfit for use.

Refrigeration systems such as industrial chillers, air conditioners and home refrigerators require refrigeration chemicals/refrigerants, which have the required heat transfer capabilities at the system’s operating temperature and pressure. Some refrigerants, for example R134a, R22 and R502, can primarily work at high pressure, while others, for example R113, R114 and R123, require low pressure to function properly. The properties of each refrigerant depend on its molecular structure indicated by its R number. R22 (also known as HCFC 22, Freon 22 and Genetron 22) is the most widely used refrigerant for residential and light commercial air conditioning and in refrigerators and freezers.

Before buying a refrigerant from refrigerant suppliers, you need to ensure the following:

1. Refrigerants should have optimum thermodynamic properties such as boiling point below the operating temperature, high heat of vaporization, required density in both liquid and gaseous form and a high critical temperature.
2. Refrigerants should be non-corrosive and compatible with the material used in the compressor, piping, evaporator and condenser.
3. Refrigeration chemicals should be non-toxic and non-flammable at the operating temperature and pressure of your refrigeration system.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Understand properties of various refrigeration chemicals

To make an informed choice of refrigerants you need to understand different refrigerants and their properties at a range of temperatures and pressures. Once you understand refrigerant's properties, you have to analyze your refrigeration systems' requirements such as mass flow rate, heat transfer, vapor pressure and other properties to choose the right refrigerant.

I recommend: McQuay International is a good source to understand various properties of commercially available refrigerants. You can also go to the technical page of Airgas website, which discusses the thermo-physical properties of various refrigerants. If you want more information on refrigerants then you can also buy a detailed report published by ISO (International Organization for Standardization).

Select the right refrigerant manufacturers and refrigerant distributors

Once you understand the properties of various refrigeration chemicals and analyze your refrigeration systems' requirements, you need to choose the right suppliers of refrigerants, which can provide you a suitable refrigerant.

I recommend: DuPont is a major supplier of refrigerants and it provides a wide range of refrigeration chemicals, which you can buy from one of its distributors. Honeywell is another major refrigerant supplier for domestic as well as commercial applications. Other major refrigerant manufacturers are Refron and INEOS which also provide a good range of refrigerants.

Keep track of changing environmental regulations when choosing your refrigeration chemicals

Refrigeration chemicals, if not chosen properly, can lead to significant expenses in the form of environmental taxes. Moreover, regulations are becoming increasingly stringent and therefore you need to know the changing regulations so that you can choose refrigerants which comply with the regulatory norms in your state or country.

I recommend: US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides a phase-out schedule for some of the refrigerants as per the Montreal Protocol. The Environmental and Regulatory Update section on DuPont’s website is another resource, which provides regulatory information regarding refrigerants in major countries.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Refer to experts in the case of complex applications, which require a mixture of different refrigeration chemicals.
• •  Select manufacturers who can provide you with certified technical support in case of any problems.