CFC Phaseout and Motor Vehicle Air Conditioners:
What Technicians Need to Know
|
Section 609  of the Clean Air Act gives EPA
the authority to establish requirements to prevent the release of
refrigerants during the servicing of motor vehicle air conditioners
and to require the recycling of refrigerants. We have fact sheets/brochures
to help one understand and comply with these requirements.
In the Spotlight...
Attention Technicians!
EPA Region 2 has received several phone calls from
technicians who are finding contaminated refrigerants in their customers'
vehicles. The likely cause of this contamination is improper
retrofits of motor vehicle air conditioners. Thus, we encourage
you to read the following two EPA Fact Sheets:
Links to Other Relevant Sites
|
|
EPA Requirements
|
|
Here you will an overview and copies
of the regulations under Section 609
of the Clean Air Act as well as brochures/
fact sheets to help you comply with these regulations. |
|
Checklists
For MVACs
|
 Two
checklists were developed to assist those involved in servicing
and disposing of Motor Vehicle
Air Conditioners determine their federal regulatory compliance
status. If one voluntarily discloses any violations found
through the use of this checklist to us, EPA may eliminate
or substantially reduce the penalties associated with these
violations under our Voluntary
Self-Disclosure Policies. EPA, for instance, reduced the
penalty assessed against the owner of Pete's
Refrigeration by 75% when he voluntarily disclosed to
EPA that he was using unapproved refrigerant during repairs
to MVACs in his shop in West Virginia.
|
|
Alternative Refrigerants
|
|
In 1994, EPA established the Significant
New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) Program to review alternatives
to ozone-depleting substances like CFC-12 in regards to their
ozone-depleting, global warming, flammability and toxicity characteristics.
Under this program, EPA has determined that several refrigerants
are acceptable for use as CFC-12 replacements
in Motor Vehicle Air Conditioners, subject to certain use conditions.
|
|
Compliance Assistance Hotline: (212)
637-4050
Small Appliances and White
Goods | Industrial Process Refrigeration | Motor Vehicle Air Conditioners | The
Science of Ozone Depletion | Commercial &
Other Refrigeration & AC
![[logo] US EPA](http://www.epa.gov/epafiles/images/logo_epaseal.gif){kind=logo}
