Reprinted from Indoor Comfort News, September 2003

Refrigerant theft has been a problem for quite some time. An even larger problem, however, is that most of the refrigerant is not being taken for resale, but is being consumed as a drug. Unfortunately, the "high" or "rush" one gets is from the oxygen being displaced in their body. The result could be fatal.

For years, the loss of refrigerants had been attributed to small leaks that can’t be detected. Evidence, however, supports that this loss of refrigerant can be attributed to theft or vandalism. Many school district HVAC personnel and apartment complex managers can relate to a story of refrigerant theft. Refrigerants are easily accessible with a simple pair of pliers or fingers, and the thieves can sniff the refrigerant directly from the valve or store it in a plastic bag for later use.

To combat the serious problem, La Palma, Calif.-based engineering company Novent LLC developed a simple tamper resistant cap that can stop the theft of refrigerant. The Novent Tamper Resistant Refrigerant Cap requires a special tool to apply and remove the product, making it virtually impossible for a thief to access the refrigerant.

"We came up with the idea for the Novent cap after visiting a job site where refrigerant was being stolen," said Joe Byrne of Novent. "There was vomit around the units from people getting sick from the chemicals. We built several sets and gave them to a church, a school district, and a contractor who had a problem with a large hotel in the San Francisco area."

Steve Brayley of US Airconditioning Distributors, which sells the caps, said the problem at the hotel - and other facilities that used the product as well - quickly went away.

"Contractors started requesting more," Brayley said.

Ron Mihld, HVAC/R supervisor for the San Bernardino City Unified School District, first started using the Novent caps over a year ago in an effort to curb the loss of refrigerant. "The Novent caps were a success," Mihld said. "We placed them on the equipment that we had problems with in the past."

At one of the schools, Dennis White, lead HVAC tech for the school district, showed where vandals had entered fenced areas and pried open service panels to gain access to service valves.

"If they see the caps they just move on," White said.

The Novent caps also protect refrigerant cylinders. The caps are anodized to match refrigerant color codes and stamped with the chemical codes. "This prevents mixing of different refrigerants," Byrne said. "These caps are a must for any refrigerant management program."

For those interested in buying The Novent Tamper Resistant Refrigerant Cap, call EZ TRAP at 877-439-8727.