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CO2 and 1234yf workshops planned

Future-gasAUSTRALIA: A series of workshops to acquaint automotive service companies with the new refrigerant R1234yf are being organised across Australia and New Zealand.

As R1234yf continues to become the standard new refrigerant in car air conditioning systems, a series of seminars has been organised to ensure garages in Australia and New Zealand are ready with gas, equipment and training.

The Future:Gas seminars have been organised by VASA, the organisation representing workshops and technicians in the vehicle aftermarket, along with Refrigerants Australia, Refrigerant Reclaim Australia and licensing body the Australian Refrigeration Council.

With Mercedes also planning to adopt CO2 in the future,  the groups say they identified a need for a seminar roadshow to inform and educate thousands of technicians and businesses about the new refrigerants and technologies they will soon be encountering.

VASA maintains that the seminars are needed as the automotive industry lacks awareness or is confused by conflicting messages or misinformation about the new automotive air conditioning refrigerants.

Topics covered will include technological background, reasons for the phase-out of R134a and the impacts these will have on their equipment, skills and safety practices.

Among the target audience are main dealer workshops, aftermarket repairers and the panel repair industry. Apart from main dealers, smash repairers will be the first to encounter cars with the new technology on damaged late-model vehicles.

Conveniently timed on mid-week evenings with entry priced at just $10, future:gas seminars are designed to be as accessible as possible to those working in automotive air-conditioning.

Venues and dates for the seminars are Newcastle NSW, July 6; Sydney NSW, July 7; Melbourne VIC, July 13; Hobart TAS, July 14; Adelaide SA, July 26; Perth WA, July 27; Darwin NT, July 28; Townsville QLD, August 3; Brisbane QLD, August 4; Auckland NZ, August 10.

For further details and to book visit www.futuregas.ac.

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