A-Gas Adds Third AHRI-Certified Lab in North America

Refrigerant company A-Gas International has earned certification from the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) for its lab in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, making it the only AHRI-certified refrigerant testing lab in Canada. The facility came to A-Gas through its March acquisition of Refrigerant Services Inc. and joins two other AHRI-certified A-Gas labs in North America, located in Rhome, Texas, and Bowling Green, Ohio.

The certification means the Dartmouth lab meets AHRI Standard 700, which sets purity and quality benchmarks for reclaimed refrigerants, including older types like CFCs and HCFCs as well as newer ones like HFOs and A2Ls. For businesses in Canada that need refrigerant tested or reclaimed, having a certified lab on home soil means faster turnaround, lower shipping costs, and less customs paperwork, since samples no longer need to cross the border into the U.S. A-Gas also runs a second Canadian lab in Stoney Creek, Ontario, that follows the same technical standards but has not received formal AHRI certification.

This is mainly a business and industry development rather than something that changes homeowner rebates or costs directly. If your home has central air conditioning, a heat pump, or refrigeration equipment serviced with reclaimed refrigerant, this kind of certification helps ensure the refrigerant used or recovered during that service meets recognized purity standards. For most homeowners, though, the news is background: it signals that refrigerant testing and reclamation infrastructure in Canada is expanding, which can support smoother, more reliable servicing over time.