THE FREON STORY
This all started 23 years ago with the Montreal protocol and clean air act. It was decided that
chlorine in our current Freon is what was affecting the ozone layer. So a reduction in Freon
that contain chlorine is what was agreed too. The first Freon that was deleted was R12, this
was a Freon that was used pretty much for automotive and refrigeration. Next came R 502
which was a commercial refrigeration Freon. Now we are at R 22 which is primarily used for
air-conditioning both residential and commercial. What the industry is doing is a deletion of
R22 Freon in all air-conditioners as of this year 2009. The government has mandated that all
air-conditioning manufacturers stopped producing air-conditioning that uses R 22 Freon. This
stop of production is effective on December 31 of 2009. What this means to you is that there is no more replacement units for your current air-conditioning system. 95% of all residential and commercial air-conditioning currently in existence use R 22 Freon. So again this means there is not going to be a replacement for your current air-conditioner when R 22 equipment is depleted. Many manufacturers stopped producing air-conditioners that used R 22 back earlier in the year of 2009. Only a couple of manufactures have continued to build R 22 equipment up to the December 31 2009 deadline. What this means is there is very little R 22 equipment still left available to air-conditioning dealers. I was in the largest manufacturers in the world warehouse in Garland the other day and they had only 200 pieces of R 22 equipment left. By this summer all R 22 equipment will be depleted.
What this means to you the customer is there is going to be no replacement air-conditioners at all for your current system. You will have to convert to the new environmental friendly Freon. That new Freon is called R 410a or Puron. This is a major change in the air conditioning industry that very few people are aware of. By summer there will be no R 22 equipment available. This means there will be no replacement for your system if it breaks. The two Freon R 22 and R410A are not compatible. The equipment that these Freons are in are also not compatible to each other. If you have a refrigeration failure of any kind on a R 22 system your only option will be to convert to the new R410A Freon system complete. When I say complete I mean you will have to change both your indoor and outdoor sections if you have any kind of major refrigeration failure, such as a coil going bad or loss of a compressor or a bad leak. It will be summer time before most customers will probably become aware of this problem. Which means a lot of people will be upgrading or converting to the new R410A /PURON systems this year. If you have an older R 22 system , units may still be available for a couple of months. You may not have a choice in which brand you would like to use but I believe we'll be able to find parts for a couple more months. When all R 22 equipment is deleted then your only option will be to convert to the new Freon or rebuild your current unit.
Repair or service questions?
Contact us by
email or Tel. 972-203-1317 for a friendly, free phone consult on your AC / Furnace / HVAC Repair needs (residential or commercial) in the
Sunnyvale, TX, or greater Dallas / Ft. Worth area!
Replacement
Let's talk about replacement of R 22 systems for just a minute, here's the deal. If your indoor
unit fails meaning your evaporate coil or electric air handler you will have to replace that
section. Since there won't be anymore R 22 equipment available you will have to replace the
outdoor section also. What I'm trying to tell you here is that any part of a R 22 refrigeration
system that fails in this up-and-coming year and from here on out will require a conversion to
R 410A brand-new system. This is going to be a tremendous sticker shock to all customers in
the DFW area, when the air-conditioning man says, well your outdoor units out, but they don't
make that unit anymore, so it's going to cost you $5500 to get your air-conditioner fixed. See
this is what I'm trying to tell you, this is going to be one crazy up and coming new year. As new
R410A systems are going to be the only replacements available if you want air-conditioning.
These systems once summertime hits are going to be priced higher than a cat's back. Hardly
anybody knows about these changes. My job is try to make all the customers aware of what's
coming in the industry, so how will I convince or even make known to 6,300,000 people that
there is a major change coming to the air-conditioning industry. And that new change is
R410A /PURON conversions.
Air-conditioning companies were hit pretty hard this year with the economy and the price wars
that went on between dealers. At least 20 companies I know when out of business this year,
one owner even hung himself this year. This is the worst year I have seen in the industry in
the 45+ years I've been in it. Crazy things when on this year such as people calling to get
estimates, when you show up and give them an estimate, asked them how it sounded, oh I'm
just getting prices I have 10 so far I'm going to get a few more. This was absolutely ridiculous,
three or four estimates is all you need in anything you're going to do. It's really not about the
price,it is about how the salesman is selling the company. For someone to get 15 estimates on an air-conditioned job in my opinion is ridiculous. What you should understand is that any
company that has sent someone out to do an estimate is putting $50-$100 in that process.
Having a little respect for the fact that somebody has enough experience to give you a good
estimate is something you should take into consideration not just the ultimate price. I can
remember back not so long ago when I was told well Tommy I 'am going give you the job, as I
called six people and your the only one that showed up. All this is a pendulum that swings
both ways what I'm trying to tell you here is the summer is going to be a pendulum for the
air-conditioning companies and the price they want to put on conversions. Trust me there will
be a lot of people converting to new systems this year. The advantage of the tax breaks, what
I consider better energy reducing equipment, and that fear of being without air-conditioning
will force people to do conversions as soon as possible.
I hope I made that replacement paragraph clear enough, maybe I'll just go over it one more
time, if your indoor unit fails on a R 22 system and there's no replacement unit, you will have
to change out your indoor unit and your outdoor unit to the only thing that is available which
will be a R 410a system. If your outdoor condenser fails and it's a R 22 unit the only
replacements available will be a R410A outdoor unit which means you will have to change
your indoor section also. To sum it up any refrigeration failure of a R 22 system will require
that you convert to a complete R410A system or rebuild your current unit. You are going to
convert anyway at some point in time. The advantage of doing it before this summer are
these. One before summer you can get a break on winner pricing for conversions. Number
two you can get $1500 back from the federal government on the stimulus plan, if Congress
doesn't use that money somewhere else first. Number three you can get a better job as the
AC companies will not be busy until summer. Come summer you may be waiting in line.
Repair or service questions?
Contact us by
email or Tel. 972-203-1317 for a friendly, free phone consult on your AC / Furnace / HVAC Repair needs (residential or commercial) in the
Sunnyvale, TX, or greater Dallas / Ft. Worth area!
About Tom Durbin AC and Mechanical
Our business is located in Sunnyvale, Texas, and we service homes and businesses anywhere in the Dallas Metroplex. We are family owned and operated, have planned service agreements for both residential and commercial, service all makes and models of Air Conditioners, we not only service or repair, but can also conduct NEW installation and replacement for all major brands of air conditioning units. Even more important, we offer fair and friendly service with free consults - so ask us to help you figure out the best solution for your heating and air conditioning needs. We have certified, authorized repair staff and are a puron refrigerant specialists with 24 hour / 7 day emergency service.
AC, Furnace, HVAC Sales, Repair and Service - Dallas / Ft. Worth
From our offices in Sunnyvale, Texas, we service many communities in the greater Dallas / Ft. Worth area for their air conditioning, furnace, and HVAC repair and replacement. If you are looking for AC repair in Addison, Allen, Arlington, or Balch Spring. Furnace service in Bedford, Carrollton, Cedar Hill, Coppell, Texas, we offer some of the best rates and best AC / Furnace service available. Desoto, TX, and Duncanville AC, HVAC, Furnace repair, sales and service as well as air conditioning replacement in Euless, Fairview, Farmers Branch, Flower Mound, Forney, Frisco. In terms of Garland, Texas, we aim to be one of the air conditioning and heating service areas. Grand Prairie and Grapevine, TX, Heath and Highland Park, TX, and Hurst TX air conditioning repair and furnace repair. Irving, Lake Dallas, and Lancaster and Lewisville as well as McKinney, Mesquite, Murphy, Oak Cliff repair for major brands of air conditioner units, furnaces, and HVAC equipment. Plano Texas air conditioner repair as well as Plano furnace / HVAC sales and service. Parker, Richardson, Richland Hills, Rockwell, Rowlett, Sachse, Seagoville, University Park, Wilmer and Wylie - are all communities we service as one of the top-rated and best air conditioner replacement / repair services in Texas.