FAQs
Why does AskA2L exist?
As a party to international accords and treaties and implemented through federal legislation and regulation, the United States is transitioning to a generation of non-ozone-depleting refrigerants with much lower environmental impact. The largest use of these refrigerants is in residential and commercial air-conditioning and refrigeration, commonly referred to as the heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, and refrigeration (HVACR) industry. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a series of regulations dictating how this phasedown will take place, and these regulations are complex and vary depending on specific application scenarios. Further, these next-generation refrigerants are classified as A2L, or mildly flammable, requiring changes to codes and standards, best practices for system design and installation, and product storage and transportation. Given the complexity this transition presents to the US HVACR industry, the need arose for a trusted, instantaneous, and intuitive knowledge base for any industry professional at any time, any day, in any location.
Who is AskA2L for?
AskA2L is built for industry professionals responsible for the sales, system design, installation, warehousing, or transportation of HVACR products containing or using A2L refrigerants. AskA2L is not designed for end customers such as home and building owners, and its base functionality is not intended to assist in or provide technical support for the installation of specific products or systems, but rather to provide industry professionals the compliance considerations for typical HVACR applications at their fingertips.
Why trust AskA2L?
Unlike many tools using AI technology where users often don’t know where answers to their questions came from or if those answers have been verified, AskA2L draws and learns from content approved, ranked, and curated exclusively by experts in US HVACR policy, as well as consensus industry resources including relevant standards. Every answer provided by AskA2L is reviewed, verified, and updated as necessary and while AskA2L is available to anyone wishing to use it, there is two-layer authentication required to ensure users are legitimate. Verified users are also encouraged to submit feedback to ensure the tool is providing the most useful and user-friendly information. Finally, AskA2L was developed with significant input and testing from industry professionals with a special emphasis on supporting customer-facing personnel throughout the HVACR channel.
Is AskA2L free to access?
Any HVACR industry professional can visit AskA2L.com, submit a free registration to verify authenticity, and begin asking the tool any A2L transition-related questions. If the tool fails to clearly answer a question, users are encouraged to submit feedback so that HARDI and AHRI experts can continually improve and educate the tool.
What types of questions can AskA2L answer?
The more specific you can be with your line of questioning, the better results AskA2L will generate! Here are a few examples of questions that provide ample context and enable the tool to pinpoint specific answers: - I'm preparing to install an R-454B heat pump in Georgia, the customer's home as a 5x10 foot utility room and the heat pump is pre-charged with 4.6 pounds of refrigerant, do I need to have a refrigerant detection system installed? - In California, I plan to store 8,000 pounds of refrigerant stored in cylinders in my warehouse, what fire mitigation devices must be installed? - I have 50 commercial rooftop units using R-410A in my warehouse, what is the deadline to sell these units?
Will AskA2L give me product or brand-specific information?
AskA2L is designed to provide brand-agnostic answers to your questions to provide easy and fast answers as we transition to A2L refrigerants, this tool is not designed to replace proper training on the installation of A2L products by manufacturers and distributors but can offer answers about specific situations. Companies that license AskA2L for their customers have the option to add product-specific information to the knowledge database; reach out to Distro for more information on licensing AskA2L.