Charlie: David from Addicks Fairbanks did just that. He says, “I have heard rumors that R22 refrigerant may not be phased out after all. I’ve not been able to confirm this, do you have any information on that?”
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Tom: It is going to be phased out but not because of the legal ramifications, because the consumer use of it is going to be zero someday and they won’t … Why would you make something nobody wants to use? But as far as you getting some for the next, for my lifetime, next 20 years, they have such a stockpile right now, first off, it’s incredible. Secondly, now if everybody follows the rules, they’re reclaiming it when they pull a system out and then they turn it in and it gets cleaned up and sold again for use, and there’s a replacement for it, too, that’s even cheaper. So yeah, R22’s going to be around awhile.
If you talk to an honest air conditioning contractor and he sells you a new unit, he’s going to sell you R-410A which has a replacement coming out now because they’re going to phase that out, but it’s because all the manufacturers are making them that way. As far as manufacturing R22 units, there’s one or two that are still putting them on the market, but for the most part they’re just retooled everything so if they don’t make them, we’re not going to need it all. So keep what you have as long as you can and don’t worry about it. And when the time comes to replace, go with the one that all the manufacturers are making.