Oh that pesky little government is at it again… LOL. Certainly I’ve heard it all when it comes to politics in general. But you’d be surprised to know that the laws effecting R22 Freon production now (2016 and beyond) were finalized and signed by the USA in 1987 via the Montreal Protocol and ratified in 1988. The Montreal Protocol has been amended only 4 times since 1987. This agreement was an international agreement that has been signed by 197 countries.
Freon Production Ban Time Line Chart
So why are you just now learning about this now if it happened in 1987? Part of it was to give time to come up with a new refrigerant to replace the old bad one. There are many refrigerants, all with varying properties to one degree or another. Some refrigerants make poor choices due to flammability concerns, others may not distribute oil thru the system properly and cause reliability concerns in regards to the break down of the system compressor. There are many more concerns than these but to keep this short I will stop there.
R22 Freon Replacement
As of 2016 there is no ‘approved’ drop in replacement for R22 Freon for high temp application otherwise known as Air Conditioning. Choosing an unapproved refrigerant will void ‘ANY’ manufacturer warranty, increase utility cost to run the system, reduce capacity of the system, cause the system to not cool properly in heat wave conditions, cause the compressor to fail prematurely due to improper oil return to the compressor.
As of 2016 there is only one proven refrigerant for the future and the name of this refrigerant is R410a. It is sometimes improperly referred to as Freon or a more popular proper trade name it is called Puron. R410a refrigerant is not a drop in replacement for R22 Freon. Refrigerants can not be mixed and work properly, nor can you use R410a in a air conditioner that was designed for R22 Freon, it simply will not work ‘reliably’. The AC system must be replaced with equipment designed to work with R410a. Air Conditioning systems are engineered and designed to operate with a specific refrigerant. For reliable operation of the AC system one must know what they are doing and use the appropriate refrigerant for the system in question.
There are many unscrupulous vendors and those that claim there are some refrigerants that can be used to replace R22 Freon. When it comes to the high temp air conditioning application these claims are false. The nature of a con game is something that will ‘easily’ solve a problem. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying… “if it sounds too good to be true… it probably is.” But yet people over and over again fall for these snake oil AC repairs.
The notion behind these so called remedies is by giving you a cheap price up front. The system may run for a few months if you are lucky and probably not much longer than a year depending on a multitude of factors like loads on the equipment, line set length, age of the equipment, the heat load the system is running in and so on.
Residential AC Compressor Problems
When doing things improperly to save money up front the end result is most often a dead compressor or a AC system that will not cool properly during a heat wave as well as high utility bills. The money you supposedly saved up front will dry up in no time when it can’t perform properly during a heat wave. The more you run the system during a heat wave the more likely you are to burn up the compressor (*If you run the machine with an improper refrigerant*) due to a lack of oil return to the compressor crankcase. (The compressor will seize up under this scenario.)
Your AC will not work without the compressor. That is a major component so now you’re most likely looking at a new air conditioning unit when this part fails.
An air conditioning system (just about any brand) is a 15 year appliance when installed and maintained properly. If you decide to play games with it, try to cut corners, try to reverse engineer things like using the proper virgin refrigerant the system was designed for as well as proper installation procedures it is unlikely to make it past even a few years without some significant problem.
There is special equipment required to be able to install an air conditioner properly. If you use an unlicensed person to install your system there is a good chance they don’t have the proper equipment to install the AC system properly. How will you know for sure that they do or don’t have all the tools and materials needed to install the AC system?
An improperly installed air conditioning system is the last kind of mess you want to have to deal with in your home. There are good reasons that manufacturer’s require licensed HVAC contractors to install the system in order to offer any warranty on the HVAC equipment.
You know what the cure for doing it wrong is? To do it over again. You don’t want to do that do you? These words are intended to help you avoid making a serious mistake.
The comfort in your home or lack thereof can wreck havoc on your finances. It is a financial decision and one you should not take lightly. Do it right the first time.
Thank you for visiting with me today. I hope I gave you some valuable insight in this AC blog topic to help you with this challenging problem regarding R22 Freon and the change over to R410a Puron. Remember R22 Freon is going away. It is not coming back. It is in your best interest to upgrade your system by replacing it with an R410a engineered air conditioner.
If you have a Freon leak in your evaporator coil you can replace the evaporator coil only but under this scenario you would continue to use virgin R22 Freon. As time gets closer to 2020 there ‘may’ not be any R22 Freon available at any price. There is no way to know for sure what will happen until it does. Using non compatible refrigerants is not recommended under any circumstances.
The days of recharging an air conditioning system are pretty much over. The refrigerant leak(s) must be found and repaired.
About the author of this air conditioning blog:
My name is Ray Austin. I am the owner and operator of Austin Air Companie, a HVAC Service Company serving Katy, Texas | Cypress, Texas | Richmond, Texas and some surrounding areas. I am a Texas Licensed HVAC Contractor with over 20 years experience in Air Conditioning and Heating Systems. I hold an AOS degree in HVAC/R, EPA universally certified to handle any refrigerant and NATE certified in HVAC installations and repairs.
Austin Air Companie
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