Tom Durbin A/C and Mechanical
972-203-1317
Angie's list
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Service: 972-203-1317 Sales: 214-957-6936 or 972-203-1317
This page will be about the difference between R22 and R410A from a
technician's point of view.
This is my personal opinion of 44 years of field time. I will first talk about R
22 Freon. This is an old friend of mine, it's been around 50+ years just like
me. And is the number one Freon used in 90 to 95% of all the air
conditioners in the world. This is a Freon that I have been comfortable
working with all my life. It is also a Freon that is going to continued to be
manufactured until 2020. In the last four years R22 wholesale price have
increased by 500%!!. Effective December 31, 2009 all manufactures
will stop manufacturing units that use R22 as a Freon. The entire industry
will be switching over to R410A. Even though R22 will still be around, I
think the price will skyrocket next year. The chemical industry may do the
same thing with R22 that happened with R12. With what is known as a
drop-in replacement Freon. But you can bet your bottom dollar it won't be
cheap. The price of a replacement will be more than R22 is today.
All other names for R410A.= AZ-20, R410A, PURON.
This is the new stuff, I am not impressed. I believe in technology and loved
to see it when it hits the industry for the better. But this new Freon is
something that I predict will cause us a few problems. Just as all
technology has problems when it first comes out, I've seen problems with
R410A. And R410A is not new to the industry, it's just new to the
consumer, it has been around for a while. This Freon runs at 30 to 40%
more pounds per square inch operating pressures than R22. You don't
have to be a graduate from Harvard to understand, with higher pressures,
there are going to be more leaks. The new R410A equipment does not
seem to have thicker walls on the copper tubing, although I've noticed
some factory changes in stressed areas, having thicker walled copper
piping. The air-conditioning industry has been plagued with leaks for
years. The number one problem with freon leaks, is that it allows the
indoor evaporator of an air-conditioning system to freeze into a block of
ice. This ice does tremendous damage to the indoor evaporator coil.
There are numerous reasons for this evaporator to freeze, I'm going to
save that for another page. (Coil page) . I'll try to write these pages in
layman's language rather than confuse you with technology. It amazes me
how all the customers want the new freon, I wonder if they'll still want it
when they understand it will probably be at $75 a pound next year. What
I'm trying to stress here is that dealing with a new freon, soldering and
taking care of your systems is going to be so much more important than it
is now because of the increased cost of freon. The days of filling up an air
conditioner with 8 dollar a pound freon are gone forever. Most systems
have a minimum of about 6 pounds, the newer units with so much more
added coils and larger size units are taking even more freon. So what will
get your attention is 6 pounds a freon at $75 a pound plus service call
making a invoice over $500 to gas up your system, think about that one!
What this means to you, the consumer, is that you are not going to be able
to neglect taking care of your unit anymore. Yes you want the new freon,
but you will soon understand that the cost of the new freon was not
something you were told about. I'm not saying that the new Freon is not
going to be a better situation for our environment or even for our planet.
(Personally I would like to see a lot more scientific facts on global
warming, I like to make up my own mind and not just be one of the sheep.)
It's just one of the higher cost!! The real problem with this Freon is you as
a consumer do not have a lot of choices. This is something else that is
going to be rammed down our throat. Effective December 31 of this year
no more R22 air conditioning equipment will be manufactured. You will
have no choice but to buy a new system that is a R410A equipment. I will
predict that you will see a drop-in replacement for R22, I'm saying that the
chemical companies will come out with a Freon that will be a substitute for
R22 . I will tell you this though,you can bet your last dollar that costs,
considering R22 equipment has a worldwide market of 90%, will not start
out at the bottom. So in closing, in 3 1/2 months your option to choose a
new 22 system will be over.
Tom Durbin
15/09/2009
To view other Contractor's opinions. Click here.
P.S. I WILL PERSONALLY RECOMMEND R22 SYSTEMS UNTIL
THEY ARE SOLD OUT. AT THAT POINT I WILL BE FORCED TO
SELL R410A JUST LIKE THE REST OF THE INDUSTRY.
THEY ARE SOLD OUT. AT THAT POINT I WILL BE FORCED TO
SELL R410A JUST LIKE THE REST OF THE INDUSTRY.
22 vs 410A
Freon