www.PillarandSons.com

Feb. 2010 Newsletter: (1pg)

About this edition: We are here to help you understand some of our industry changes which will affect each of you sooner or later.

If your system uses the Freon called R-22 then you need to know that this product is being phased out by the EPA.  In fact The Montreal Protocol says as of January 2010 the manufacturers are now no longer allowed to manufacture new equipment with R-22 in them. R-22 is ozone depleting this is why the phase out.

In residential applications the new refrigerant is R-410. Carrier has cleverly named and marketed this new refrigerant for years and has given R-410 the “puron” nick name. For most contractors this new “Puron” is a love hate relationship. It has its advantages and disadvantages the best is, it contains no ozone depleting chemicals.

In the past several years we have seen the cost of R-22 skyrocket and will only continue to increase until it is completely unavailable. Beyond 2020 the chemical manufacturers will no longer be able to produce R-22. We are predicting that the cost will go so high after 2015, that most contractors won’t even carry the product on their trucks after 2015.

A very small percentage of people have already changed over to R-410. Most of you still have the R-22. The first thing that you must know is that the two different refrigerants we have been talking about here are not compatible with each other. You can’t just put the new stuff in your old equipment. It would not work.

Many of you with leaking systems have had us keep adding R-22 each spring. Now is the time to have that leak located and repaired. This service could buy you several more years or more before your system will need to be replaced so you could start saving now for your new unit.

With these refrigerant changes, also came new higher minimum SEER energy ratings and these two added together has driven the cost for a replacement unit to new industry record highs. Making repairing a leak in most cases a good decision. Thanks for reading and don’t forget to check or change your filters.

See you next month,

PillarandSons.com “Because you deserve better service”.