April’s most popular stories

A bankruptcy filing, R-454B drama, and a new slate of tariffs

Homepros

Image: Homepros

Hello, cooling season: With a third of the year down, here’s a peek at our five most-read stories in April:

Honeywell, Chemours hike R-454B prices. “Honeywell on April 11 announced a 42 percent surcharge for orders placed on or after February 15… Chemours, following suit, announced a $2.85-per-pound increase on all open R-454B orders expected to ship starting May 1.” (Full story)

Inside Air Pros’ bankruptcy filing. “HVAC platform Air Pros filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the Northern District of Georgia, as part of a year-long restructuring effort. In conjunction… the [company] announced that it’s selling all of its businesses via six separate purchase agreements.” (Full story)

New tariffs set to impact the HVAC industry: What to know. “President Trump on April 2 announced a new slate of tariffs on countries across the world, several of which will ripple into the HVAC industry… The moves are part of Trump’s aim to incentivize U.S. manufacturing and usher in what he’s said will be the ‘golden age of America.’” (Full story)

Google tweaks Local Services Ads, will analyze calls to collect contractors’ pricing info. “Google published a new set of terms for LSAs, giving it the right to analyze all data within LSA profiles… including pricing information and discounts gathered from phone calls and messages with potential customers.” (Full story)

Lennox, Watsco CEOs: A2L sales accelerating, R-454B issues temporary. “‘As far as the [R-454B] containers… there’s been a shortage,’ said [Watsco CEO Albert] Nahmad. ‘We’ve been on allocation. Everybody in the industry is on allocation right now. Is it going to impact us longer-term? No, it’s not.’” (Full story)

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EPA ‘reconsiders’ refrigerant rule — but nothing has changed yet

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The EPA on Wednesday announced a wide-ranging deregulatory initiative, which puts an HVAC-industry rule under review

Contractors spared as Treasury scraps ownership reporting rule

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