Whats happening with refrigerants in Air Conditioning?
There have been many reports regarding air conditioner refrigerants and their effects on the ozone layer. Due to environmental concerns, our federal government has issued regulations that restrict the future production of HCFC refrigerants. Most all of the air conditioner and heat pump units sold today utilize a refrigerant known as R-22 which is from the family HCFC’s. R-22 refrigerant has been used for decades in a safe and efficient manner; but government regulations will eventually phase them out of use. Products that use HCFC refrigerant such as R-22, must stop being produced by the year 2010. All production of R-22 refrigerant will stop by 2020. These changes will eventually eliminate refrigerant containing chlorine due to the concern about ozone depletion. One of the major challenges facing our industry today is finding an acceptable replacement for R-22 refrigerant, since HCFC’s will be phased out over the next few years. The R-22 refrigerant in widespread use today is a hydroc
