According to language in the phaseout laws that came about with the Obama administration’s Climate Action Plan as well as the U.S. EPA’s Clean Air Act in Section 608, there are about three options available to owners of appliances or devices which use R-22 as the refrigerant. These laws actually started going into effect back in 2010, but were designed so that people had a 10-year period of time during which to either set aside the money it would take to convert their appliances using R-22 over to the new type of refrigerant Pureon, or R410A, or do something else that qualified for compliance.
Many people have not taken advantage of the timeframe allowed by the law to adapt to the change fluidly, and now that the deadline is less than a year from now, people are scrambling to figure out what they’re going to do.
The first option and the best in our opinion is to upgrade your entire HVAC system and any related components that you can fit into your budget. This option is the most highly recommended option and happens to be the easiest and will last the longest, but it’s certainly not the most inexpensive way to go. People who still have the old units that use R-22 will be required to have their units replaced with an upgrade on or by Jan. 1, 2020 and there is no extension or grace period expected. If you play it right and plan this process to be completed over the period of time from now until the end of this year, you’ll be able to enjoy a nice and smooth transition with little or no interruption in the usage of your refrigerated appliances.
This is the next best option to completely replacing your refrigerated appliances with an upgraded one made to run on the new Pureon. Option two involves converting your old R-22-using units to work with the new type of refrigerant that doesn’t destroy the ozone layer called R410A, or Pureon. This is not a cheap thing to have done, but something that will cost less and be faster to complete than the first option, and something we here at Advanced Professional Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling can do for you without any trouble. Just give us a call today and mention the R-22 phaseout and we’ll help you throughout the whole process. We will make it a painless and easy process that allows you to keep using your appliances and enjoy a seamless process in changing from R-22 to the better R410A.
For people choosing to hang on to their old ozone-eating air conditioner or other R-22-refrigerated units and put off the expense until the very last minute, they should keep in mind that the prices on the old R-22 are expected to increase exponentially for the fact they are going to become very hard to find as people scramble to find the old type of fluid to keep their units working as long as possible. Any money you think you could possibly save by waiting until the last second to comply with the law will likely be eaten up by over-priced freon, so this is not a highly recommended option at all from our point of view. Plus consider the fact that you’ll still have to spend the money on replacement units that comply with the law. It’s still an option, however. If you do choose to go this route, keep in mind that you’ll want to call us well in advance of the January 1st deadline in order to ensure we are not back up helping others to the point that you have a waiting period where you are without the use of your appliance while you wait for us to get to you with help. We’ll do our best to provide you with fast and quality service like always, but urge you to call as far in advance as possible in order to make things easier for everybody concerned.
It may be hard to roll with the punches of changes like these, but keep in mind that they are necessary in order to protect the environment. It’s our world, and if we don’t make positive changes like this one to take better care of it, we may one day not be able to enjoy it in the ways we want to. Let’s all do our part to make the changes as easy as possible, and we can all feel good knowing we’re contributing to our futures and those of our children. If you have any questions about the phaseout or how to be in compliance by January 1st, 2020, call us at Advanced Professional Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling here in New Jersey and we’ll be happy to help explain everything or answer any questions you may have.
