In 1986, the EPA mandated that refrigerant R-22, commonly called Freon, be slowly phased out of the air conditioners in the United States due to the harm it inflicts to the ozone layer. The original plan put forth by the EPA called for a slow gradual phase out of Freon starting in the late 90’s with a halt in production of new air conditioners using the old refrigerant in 2010 and a production cap on the amount of Freon allowed to be sold.
The complete end of production of all Freon was slated for 2020 and by 2015, production was supposed to be only a fraction of what is actually needed to service all the older air conditioners in use. The main idea the EPA stressed was recycling of the old Freon removed in air conditioners could supply the demand as new Freon production was phased out. The plan did not work very well. Instead of buying the new “green” environmentally friendly air conditioners from the start of their production in 1999, consumers kept buying the old Freon machines all the way until the last day of 2010. We got calls until 2012 from builders desperately seeking old inventory of units running on Freon.
Many people that bought replacement air conditioners in their existing homes or bought a new home did not investigate the issue thoroughly and now are faced with a real problem, as Freon is becoming very rare and expensive. Recycling did not work well, as only some 20% of all Freon produced makes its way back into the supply chain to be cleaned and reused. A massive amount of this gas is simply dissipated out into the ozone layer from leaky air conditioners people refuse to replace. There is even one company in Atlanta that offers “free Freon” in hopes that when they finally do decide to buy a new air conditioner, they buy from them. But the long term effect of this promotion is chilling, as Freon R-22 is very harmful to the ozone ,and there is not enough being produced to supply the legitimate needs of users without simply pumping this harmful gas into an old unit only to have it leak out in a few weeks or months.
And Freon is anything but “free”. The EPA was slated to ease up on the production cap this year to give people more time to replace old units, but did not take any action to change the policy which resulted in an immediate jump in the price of Freon and an immediate shortage of the gas to service existing systems. Many of the companies we buy Freon from report to us they will not be able to supply the demand this summer season and the price is going to be so high, many people will simply not be able to afford it to service old leaky units. Furthermore, some HVAC supply houses have indicated that when their meager stocks run out, they will not be purchasing any more due to the high cost.
If you have just added Freon to a leaky air conditioner in the past hoping to delay the inevitable, this may be the season that you have to step up and replace your unit with a new environmentally friendly unit which in the long run will pay for itself by cutting your utility bill by up to 60%.