Replacement refrigerants for R22 good or bad?

Posted June 12, 2012

With the cost of refrigerant 22 increasing many people have been asking if there was a less costly refrigerant to replace R 22 when they have a leak in their air conditioning system.The answer is yes with cautions.

They are:

1. Manufactures are recommending that only original R 22 be used in there A/C equipment and if they find out that other than new R22 refrigerant was used they will not honor their warranty.
2. The drop in refrigerant does not have the exact quality’s as the original R 22
3. It changes the properties of the original refrigerant if mixed with the drop in refrigerant and will not give the same efficiency as originally stated.
4. You have to remove all original R 22 refrigerant before the Drop in refrigerant can be used.
5. The drop in refrigerant only works with expansion valve metering devices.Most residential air conditioning units that are older had orifice flow control for metering and the drop in refrigerants don’t work well.

So in conclusion, you can save some money by using the drop in refrigerant. With manufacturers recommending against it and a lot of air conditioning company’s not understanding how to use it. I would say No,No,No.