Can R-410A be used to retrofit existing R-22 equipment?
There has been some confusion around this issue. Retrofit normally refers to the process of replacing the refrigerant in an existing piece of equipment with some equipment changes. The magnitude of the changes depends on the refrigerant as well as the equipment design. Existing R-22 systems are not designed to handle the much higher cooling capacity and discharge pressure of R-410A. To retrofit an existing R-22 system, nearly all of the components would need to be replaced. This is very labor intensive and costly and would not be justified economically. R-22 can still be used, and there is no current, future, or proposed EPA requirement to force the conversion of R-22 systems, so there is no incentive to convert existing R-22 systems.
