From 1st January 2010 R-22 refrigerant gas has been banned for use in the manufacture of new air conditioning and heat pump systems. The use of R-22 refrigerant has been phased out and is no longer available for the service and maintenance of existing equipment since January 2010. Also, from December 31st 2014 the use of R-22 refrigerant, including reclaimed and recycled R-22 will be completely banned.

Who is affected by the Phase-out?
R22 is widely used across many different business types:
Examples
• Commercial and domestic air conditioning systems
• Cooling process within the manufacturing sector
• Commercial refrigeration.
 

Other business types that can be affected:
• Shops within the retail sector
• Hospitals and health care
• Office buildings
• Communication room and Data Centers
• Education
• Health and fitness
• Hair and beauty saloons
 

How will I be affected?
One of the main risks is a disturbance to your business, down time and a loss of revenue. Continuing the use of an R-22 system up until the deadline will put you at a risk of greater expense as the cost of R-22 soars and the availability diminishes.

Facing a shortage or unavailability of R-22 refrigerant gas your business can and will be left without a heating or cooling system.

What is the next step to take?
Most businesses will have 2 options to choose from but these options are limited to the condition of the equipment. Generally a site survey is necessary and an accurate evaluation of the equipment can made.

The options are:
• Retro fitting of old:
• Most efficient and cost-effective option
• Continue to use existing services providing the condition permits to do so
• Flush pipework, re-test and triple evacuate
• Install new energy efficient equipment using R-410A ozone friendly refrigerant gas.

Upgrade and replace all services and equipment
• All existing equipment decommissioned and removed
• All services such as refrigerant pipework, drainage to be removed.
• Replace with new energy efficient equipment using R-410A ozone friendly refrigerant gas.
• Can be the most expensive and downtime increases.

Bare in mind that newer systems are also up to 70% cheaper to run than R22 systems so not only are you operating your AC with a clean refrigerant gas, it is done so at a fraction of the cost.

In a recent survey, 65% of people who Retro-Fitted there company’s AC systems in 2007 we able to cover the cost of the upgrade within 2 years because of the steep reduction in energy bills.

Call Comfort Air Conditioning today for a free evaluation on your AC equipment.