Can I Use A 410a Condenser With R22 Coil

Playing the Numbers
		R22 vs. R410A

In compliance with the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, the The states has prohibited the transport and sale of R-22 charged air conditioning equipment since Jan ane, 2010. Nearly people know R22 by the brand proper noun Freon, while air conditioning technicians refer to information technology equally R22, and the U.Due south. government has classified it equally HCFC-22, a controlled substance. Whatever you choose to telephone call it, prior to 2010 R22 had been the go to refrigerant for cooling homes and businesses. Composed of hydrofluorcarbon (HCFC), R22 emits chlorine atoms when it escapes into the atmosphere. These atoms damage the ozone, which acts every bit a blanket to assist screen out ultra-violet rays which have been linked to pare cancer, one of the fastest growing cancers in the United states.

Under the Montreal Protocol, the EPA has fabricated an effort to button consumers to switch from R22 (Freon) based air workout systems to R410A (brand name Puron) based systems. When it escapes (for case, through a leak in an evaporator or condenser coil), R410A does far less harm to the environment than R22. Because the Montreal Protocol banned R22-charged condensers, it appeared, back in 2010, that if your R22 condenser failed you would have no choice other than to purchase R410A equipment. This not only meant that you would accept to replace the failed condenser unit with an R410A model, but, if your evaporator worked with R22 only, you would then have to replace that as well. An ac arrangement (condenser, evaporator scroll and refrigerant lines) can operate with only one refrigerant; R22 and R410A must never mix. (Fortunately, modernistic evaporator coils tin be converted from R22 to R410A). Since the 2010 deadline, manufacturers and dealers have institute a way effectually the R22-charged condenser ban. They may legally dry out-ship and sell R22-compatible condensers. That is, the condensers they sell practise not contain any R22 refrigerant. Hence, they don't violate the law. Once the equipment has been installed, an EPA certified technician tin charge information technology up with R22. This means that you do still accept a choice between upgrading your cooling organization to R410A or replacing failed equipment with a unit which uses R22.

As well the fact that R410A is less damaging to the environment, there are other advantages to using R410A-based equipment. For one thing, it is slightly more efficient than R22 equipment. Also, R410A based compressors run cooler than R22 based compressors and, consequently, are less likely to overheat and fire out. Another benefit of R410A air conditioning systems is that they apply new, synthetic lubricants which circulate more efficiently than the mineral oil used to lubricate R22 systems. This translates to less vesture and tear on the unit'due south moving parts.

This is not to say that R410A is perfect. For one matter it operates nether much higher pressure level than R22 and charging up a organisation with R410A takes more time and more than expertise than charging one with R22. This translates to slightly higher labor costs which eat upwards some of the savings in the cost of the R410A itself versus the R22. Furthermore, these systems exert a lot more pressure level on ac organisation components, including refrigerant lines. Manufacturers take taken this into consideration when constructing R410A uniform condensers; they accept designed them with thicker, stronger shells to reduce the racket and the vibrations created past the compressor and to reduce the strain on the piping connections, thereby reducing the incidence of refrigerant leaks. Nonetheless, technicians out in the field are finding that R410A equipment generally does not concluding as long as really former R22 equipment. You may have gotten twenty or fifty-fifty thirty years out of an one-time R22 condenser. You may merely get x years out of a new R410A unit. Opting for a brand new R22 condenser will not solve this longevity problem. Due to changes in blueprint and materials, the R22 condensers manufactured today are unlikely to last as long every bit their R22 predecessors.

The most important consideration as to whether to replace your condenser with an R22 or R410A based unit may be the rising toll of R22 refrigerant. Effective Jan 1, 2020, the domestic product and import of R22 volition be banned all together. Many plants which traditionally manufactured R22 accept already converted to the production of R410A and the toll of R22 has been steadily increasing as a result. After January 1, 2020, R22-based systems which take lost refrigerant can even so be charged with recycled R22, just supplies are expected to exist scarce and extremely expensive.

If you are among the minority who wish to replace their existing R22 condenser with new R22 equipment, time is running out. Some manufacturers have already ceased production of R22 equipment as they catechumen the last of their R22 production lines to R410 equipment.

By the manner, R410A is no longer the newest kid on the block. The EPA would like to slowly move all American homes from R22 and R410A to an fifty-fifty newer refrigerant, R441A. R441A is expected to have zero impact on global warming and ozone depletion. There is just 1 pocket-sized problem. The version of R441A producers accept come up with so far is a highly flammable blend of ethane, propane, isobutane and n-butane, non necessarily the blazon of substance you lot want coursing through the refrigrant lines inside your walls. Consumers who have been unhappy about the conversion from R22 to R410A may find themselves missing R410A one time the R441A refrigerant takes over.