What is the status of R-22 phase-out?
R-22 has been the refrigerant of choice used by most cooling system manufacturers for decades. Because it is mildly toxic to the atmosphere it was included in the provisions of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. This Act stipulated phase-out dates for various refrigerants, including HCFC-22 (a Class II substance). Essentially it says that no new products will be built containing R-22 after January 1, 2010 and no R-22 will be produced after January 1, 2020. Systems operating with R-22 will be able to continue using that refrigerant after the 2020 date. However, with the cessation of R-22 production replacement refrigerant will become more difficult to obtain. Equipment manufacturers will undoubtedly develop products using new, acceptable refrigerants prior to the cutoff date in 2010. In fact, Liebert is beginning to sell products using R-407C refrigerant (although those same products can be ordered with R-22 until the phase-out date). R-407C was designed to have operating characteris
