Illegal Refrigerants: Why risk it?
Published: 09 August, 2019
Honeywell is urging garages to make sure they don’t source illegal refrigerants when dealing with air con systems this summer.
“Air conditioning is by far the most popular at-cost optional extra for UK car owners and drivers, “said Lee Hermitage, Marketing Director, Honeywell Fluorine Products Europe, Middle East and Africa. “It is not only a comfort perk – it is more often considered a safety feature, too. And rightfully so, since air conditioning can prevent drowsiness and help keep drivers alert. That all is good news for UK garages, because the more air conditioning units are in cars on British roads, the more maintenance they will require.For air conditioning to work, the system has to use a refrigerant and these refrigerants are subject to some pretty tough environmental requirements policed by the Environment Agency to limit emissions from air conditioning units in cars.”
Since January 2017, all new vehicles must be equipped with a low global-warming-potential refrigerant. In most cases this is R-1234yf. However, older vehicles are still equipped with R-134a.
Lee continued: “The first step when servicing car’s air conditioning system, is therefore to understand which refrigerant it contains, since it is illegal to service R-1234yf systems with R-134a.”
It is also essential to check if the product has been legitimately placed on the market: “Counterfeiting or smuggling are not words usually used when talking about refrigeration,” said Lee. “However, they became a reality of the industry lately. In the European Union, illegal products are estimated to make up 20% of the refrigeration market and create 20 million MT of CO2 a year – equivalent to the emissions of four million cars. According to the Environmental Investigation Agency’s study, 72% of users have been offered refrigerant in non-returnable containers, a clear sign of the refrigerant being illegal.
“With illegal products, users do not know what refrigerant really is in the container. Such unknown mixtures can represent a health hazard for technicians working with these refrigerants. An illegal product can also impact the performance of the air-conditioning system, ranging from increasing the fuel consumption to damaging the air-conditioning compressor.
There are consequences: “Being found to be in possession of these illegal products may mean fines are imposed and it may result in custodial sentences. While there is a lot of risk associated with illegal refrigerants, there are steps a business can take to make sure they never use these products.”
- Blast it! How to disinfect air con systems
With cars having been using their air con in full during the warmer months, Helen Robinson, Marketing Director at Euro Car Parts, wants to remind garages that cleaning air conditioning systems remains a good opportunity into the autumn and beyond.
“We’ve all done it – you turn on the air con after not using it for a few months, only to be greeted by a terrible smell. The reason behind this, however, is quite simple. Stagnant water droplets trapped in your dormant system are blasted out, leaving behind a foul odour and some nasty bacteria. While this is a common driver complaint, not every garage is taking the opportunity to upsell and provide a thorough cleaning and disinfection service. Fortunately, you can take three essential steps using products from Normfest that have been specifically designed and formulated to help these troubled drivers.
“The first step is to ‘bomb’ the system with Viro Dry Shot Plus, a powerful anti-bacterial cleaning agent. Using the product is simple – spray it directly into the air intake nozzles that are usually located in the passenger footwell. The spray then disperses throughout the air conditioning system for a thorough, quick and hygienic clean. Viro One Shot Plus eliminates microorganisms, prevents allergic reactions and leaves a lasting pleasant smell. A single can is enough for one application.
“In the second step, Viro Air Fresh Plus is sprayed directly into the air vents and gets to work on the air conditioner’s piping. Over time, a layer of dirt collects in the ventilation ducts and becomes a perfect breeding ground for bacteria and mould. Viro Air Fresh Plus eliminates these odour-causing particles with direct application, enabled by the included tube nozzle. It provides a long-lasting disinfection and leaves a pleasant citrus fragrance. One can contains enough spray for three applications.
“For the third and final step don’t forget the evaporator. For a complete clean, it is recommended that garages also use Viro Vaporizer to disinfect the air conditioner’s evaporator. A layer of dirt can accumulate on the evaporator fins over time, which provides ideal conditions for microorganisms to reproduce. The product cleans with high-pressure flushing, acting across the evaporator’s entire surface. It quickly kills bacteria and fungi and prevents their resettlement. The product is supplied with a 60-centimetre long tube with a rotary nozzle, helping the user to reach all corners of the evaporator. Viro Vaporizer contains enough spray for one air conditioning system. This final step completes the process, providing comprehensive protection against bacteria and bad odours.”
In conclusion, Helen added: “Disinfecting a vehicle’s air conditioning is not just about removing bad smells. It is important to periodically remove the build-up of bacteria, dirt and dust within the system to avoid discomfort, allergies and health complications. This simple three-step process could be combined with a re-gas and a new cabin filter for a complete system rejuvenation. It presents a great opportunity for garages to upsell and provides a service that directly benefits customers – solving a common driver complaint.”
- Keep cool as air con heats up
As we move towards through summer, motorists are dropping the dial across the spectrum on their climate control systems.
According to Adam White, Workshop Solutions Director at Euro Car Parts, repairers can make the most of the opportunity if they are properly equipped: “The key to profitability is offering the right services and performing them efficiently, in terms of both time and cost. By those measures, air conditioning is one of the most profitable service areas a workshop can be involved in – given the right expertise and equipment. Unfortunately, air con work is sometimes overlooked by garages who fail to see the potential profits it could bring to their business. With summer here, there are lucrative opportunities for those who are prepared.
“Air con is a key growth area for UK garages. A lot of customers that visit a workshop have some form of issue with their air con system and the average job takes just five minutes. It’s easy to see why air conditioning remains one of the most profitable services that workshops can offer. If you want to make the most of the summer rush, now is the perfect time of year to invest in quality equipment.”
As many workshops will know, automotive air conditioning systems use one of two specific gas types; either R134A or 1234YF. Adam observed: “Perhaps the most important decision for a workshop is whether to use a dual gas or double single gas setup. This will likely be dictated by the size of the business or the amount of air con servicing undertaken. The primary advantage of a dual gas machine is that you only require one unit to cater for both R134A and 1234YF, meaning less occupied space and reduce costs. The alternative is two separate machines, one for each gas. Having two machines is more expensive but it allows you to service two vehicles at once and offers greater opportunity for revenue-generation.
“Workshops should ideally have the capability to cover both 1234yf and R134a systems. We aim to support the independent aftermarket in any way we can. Our latest Workshop Solutions brochure outlines the profitability of air con servicing and is well worth a read. New machines only require a hands-on time of around five minutes, with the total air-con service time taking between 45 minutes to an hour. This effectively gives you an additional pair of hands in the workshop – an hour of labour that can be used and charged elsewhere.”
Adam continued: “Autoclimate’s products cover most of the UK market and it offers a support service that can fix 72% of the issues workshops encounter over the phone, minimising downtime. For the remaining problems, the company has 18 dedicated air con repair specialists committed to performing on-site repairs within three working days. For peace-of-mind, all its air con machines are eligible for a five-year warranty package with included annual servicing.”
Adam concluded: “Whether you are considering investing in your workshop’s first air con machine or a seasoned veteran looking to upgrade, make sure that you evaluate the market to find one that best suits your requirements. The Workshop Solutions brochure is a great source of information and advice on how to maximise workshop profitability. The latest issue provides interesting insights into air-conditioning, including comparisons of popular models and useful finance examples.”
- Powering up your future business
Life never stands still and this also applies to vehicle design and the subsequent diagnostic and repair requirements. Any workshop business that does not evolve will, sooner or later, fail. The pace of change in vehicle design has been exponential in the last 10 years, across vehicle systems such as the development of driver assist systems, but equally for powertrain designs.
Part of the powertrain development has been for engine management, such as direct injection for petrol engines, cylinder de-activation and Atkinson cycle technologies, but these have been developments of existing internal combustion designs. There have also been different fuels, such as hydrogen, but again, evolution, rather than revolution.
The real change has been the rapid increase in the number of electrically powered cars, partly due to the development of both battery technology and volumes, with the subsequent reduction in prices, making vehicles both more affordable and useable, but the most significant influence has come from the political environment to move away from the reliance on fossil fuels.
Viable
Although electric vehicles are far from a new idea – the first (small scale) electric vehicles were developed in the 1830s, with viable vehicles being manufactured from the very early 1900s, including the first hybrid vehicles. Although the concept is not new and workshops have dealt with low voltage ‘electrics’ in the form of starting, ignition and lighting (SIL) batteries for over a hundred years, today’s electric powertrains pose significantly different challenges.
These challenges fall into several distinct categories, some of which you can directly do something about, while others which are outside of your direct control.
Firstly, doing nothing to develop your business is not the answer – the expansion of electrically powered vehicles is here to stay and the key is to understand what you need to do and when you need to do it. For the workshop, from the technical perspective, it is principally a competency issue that involves having the right equipment and the skills of the technician. Both of these will depend on how deeply you feel is necessary to be able to handle the level of work on the electrification of the vehicle’s powertrain and to some extent, this will be dictated by the demographics of your location, and your customer base.
There are several new vehicles which are now entering the market that use 48-volt systems, so these are not so challenging, but the existing and bulk of the future electrically powered vehicles will have much higher voltage systems and this is a key tipping point. To work on these systems imposes a duty of care on the business to ensure that technicians are not asked to work on potentially lethal systems without the appropriate equipment, protection and skill levels. For the workshop, this imposes a compliance for both the Electricity at Work Regulation (EWR) 1989 and the Safety at Work Act 1979.
Investment
However, the level of involvement in these higher voltage systems will also dictate the level of investment. This is illustrated by one vehicle manufacturer’s policy of implementing three levels in their main dealer networks for their hybrid or fully electric vehicles – level one is purely vehicle maintenance, level two is repair and replacement of components and level three is working on live systems.
In both Canada and Germany, compulsory training and accreditation of all vehicle repair technicians is mandatory.
For independent workshops in the UK, this three step approach would also allow the workshop to adopt an ‘evolutionary’ approach to investment, starting with some basic equipment and then building on this with the more specialist tools and equipment as the business develops, but I would strongly suggest that the technical training should be at a higher level from the outset to ensure that the technician fully understands the wider design and functionality of electrically powered vehicle systems to know the boundaries of where the work on a vehicle changes across the three levels – a good case of avoiding that ‘you don’t know what you don’t know’. Once your business has the competencies, then it is about promoting this to existing customers who at some stage will be hybrid or electric vehicle owners, or to those who already are, but don’t know that you can handle their vehicles – so if you make the investment, shout about it.
Opportunity
On another positive point, the European Commission have confirmed that electric vehicles still need to support access to their in-vehicle systems for repair and maintenance – clarifying the mis-held belief that if there were no emissions, then no OBD connector needed to be fitted.
These are the things that you may be able to control about electrically powered vehicles, but there are other aspects that are outside of your control which will impact your business. The most obvious is the extended service intervals and the reduced level of work which electrically powered vehicles need. Fairly obviously, this directly relates to no engine components on fully electrically powered vehicles, but even if tyre wear may increase due to their increased weight, their brakes last longer due to the capturing of energy when slowing down to re-charge the battery.
Electric vehicles will require new skillsets for their repair, away from mechanical repairs into more electrical and electronic orientated repairs. This will change the profile of the technician that is needed and also create an increased dependency on downloading software updates. However, these may be increasingly over-the-air updates from the vehicle manufacturer, without the need for a vehicle to come into a workshop. Just think about what TESLA are already doing. The way that the vehicles are purchased is also changing – especially for electric vehicles – as there is a separation of the cost of the vehicle and the renting of the battery to avoid the twin problems of the higher price of new electric vehicles and the concerns around the cost of replacing a battery as the vehicle ages.
Additionally, there will be changes in the ownership of the vehicle as ‘mobility as a service’ develops, but this may be an opportunity for independent workshops to provide competitive local repair and maintenance services to these new mobility operators, but only if the workshop is competent to do so – and so there is both a threat and an opportunity presented by electrically powered vehicles.
xenconsultancy.com
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