The Mobile Air Conditioning Society (MACS) Worldwide will roll out a new Refrigerant Recovery and Recycling Technician Certification Training Program on Jan. 1, 2015. MACS will initiate proctored training, self-study training and online training simultaneously on that date.

Periodically, the U.S. EPA requires all Section 609 Technician Certification Programs to update their training materials. This year, updates have been made to “incorporate information on three new alternatives found acceptable subject to use conditions in motor vehicle air conditioning under the Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) program, HFO-1234yf, R-744 (CO2) and HFC-152a.”

Since its beginning, MACS has regularly developed and expanded its Section 609 program to reflect industry changes in technology, service equipment and procedures, tools, alternative refrigerants and regulatory requirements. MACS submitted the requested training materials for review, and on Nov. 13 received notification from the U.S. EPA that it has met the requirements of the update and satisfactorily submitted revised Section 609 training and certification materials.

“What this means,” explains Elvis Hoffpauir, MACS Worldwide president and chief operating officer, “is that in response to the introduction of the new refrigerant R-1234yf and its unique service procedures MACS has met the new training standards for mobile A/C technicians as required by the EPA. In addition to meeting the requirements for Section 609 programs set by the U.S. EPA, MACS is also the first (and as of this writing the only organization) to certify its program to SAE International Standard J2845, ‘R-1234yf (HFO-1234yf) and R-744 Technician Training for Service and Containment of Refrigerants Used in Mobile A/C Systems.'”

The scope of this SAE standard states, “The technician shall be trained to recognize which refrigerant is being handled, how to handle it safely and be equipped with the essential information, proper equipment and tools, which are unique to these refrigerants.”

The EPA is not requiring a new Section 609 certification for handling R-1234yf, however if technicians want their Section 609 certification card to read that they are certified to recover R-1234yf, MACS will require they review the new training material and take a new test.

For more information, see the listing of the MACS program at http://www.sae.org/macdb/gethome.do and click on “Search.”