Tuesday, January 31, 2012

The future of R-22 refrigerant.

R-22 is a refrigerant that was used in most residential air-conditioning systems until just a couple years ago. It is considered a greenhouse gas since the manufacture of R-22 it results in a dangerous by-product that adversely affects the environment.

The United States began phasing out R-22 in 2004, and from day one Sean McCutcheon's Air conditioning and Heating, Inc. informed customers of the eventual complete phase out of R-22 and recommended their customers consider purchasing new systems that used Environmentally Safe refrigerants.

As of January 1st 2010 – New A/C systems manufactured cannot use R-22 refrigerant.

Some air conditioning businesses have purposely mislead their customers about the future availability of R-22. There are some large Air Conditioning companies that have warehouses full of “new” systems manufactured before 2010 – and they will sell this equipment to customers at a discount without fully explaining the phase out of R-22.

Not only is R-22 harmful to the environment, but it will become more expensive and harder to get over time. Systems that use R-22 cannot easily be converted to the new refrigerant so customers will also experience costly repair bills in the future.

The average life of an Air Conditioner is 10 to 12 years, so HVAC companies that have sold systems in the last couple years without educating their customers about the future of R-22 have been doing their clients a great disservice!

Recent actions by the EPA have led to uncertainty about the availability of R-22 in the coming months. The EPA controls the production R-22, through allowances that limit how much each gas manufacturer and importer can produce or import in a given year.

The EPA recently realized that R-22 was not being depleted as quickly as expected, which led them to consider a more aggressive phase down. In other words, this means even less production of R-22 to a total of only 55 million pounds in 2012 versus approximately 100 million pounds in 2011.

This has already resulted in the price for R-22 skyrocketing to more than a 250% increase with limited supplies.

Eventually pricing and availability may stabilize, but consumers need to be informed about R-22 so they do not purchase a “discounted” system that will be very costly to maintain and repair down the road.

If you are buying a new system, make sure you select a dealer who will take the time to help you choose the best system, and will help you understand your different options.

If a company is offering a system at a price that seems too good to be true – chances are it probably is….

Sarasota Air Conditioning Repair, Service, And Maintenance

3 comments:

  1. You have taken a good amount of time to write about the future of R-22 refrigerant. Thanks for the guidelines. A wonderful as well as thoughtful article.

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