GLOBAL WARMING:  There is considerable concern among some people, especially in government, who allege that refrigerants which escape into the atmosphere deplete the atmospheric ozone layer and contribute to what they call global warming.  While these people are very adamant that this is actually occurring and are doing everything in their power to eliminate many commonly used household materials, such as aerosol from spray cans and especially Refrigerant-22 in air conditioning systems, as yet, in our opinion, there is no concrete consensus that this is actually occurring.  In fact, in some scientific circles, this is called scare mongering with no actual concrete scientific data to back it up.  However, this is all a moot point to us as we do not have the time or resources to clarify any of this.  

FACTS:  Most major air conditioning manufacturers are now producing alternative air conditioning systems using a refrigerant which is deemed to be non-ozone depleting and is named Refrigerant R-410A.  These systems have been available for several years now and are an alternative to a conventional R-22 system.  To date, we have not seen a significant advantage to these systems which work the same as a conventional system, achieve much the same results, but do run higher operating pressures than an R-22 system.  We will install these systems as the market demands, but as yet have stopped short of recommending them as we do not see any significant benefits to the customer. 

Scare Tactics:

Some producers of air conditioning equipment have been heavily advertising the newer 410A systems for several years now and have engaged in what we feel are nothing more than scare tactics.  Their large advertisements are designed to lead the average homeowner to believe that if they put in a new air conditioning system and do not elect to put in the newer 410A system, that in a short time their system will become obsolete and cause them to have to replace it prematurely due to the fact that R-22 will no longer be available.  NOT TRUE! 

FACTS:  As of January 1, 2010, with the present schedule as advocated by the United States Government, American manufacturers will no longer be able to produce air conditioners and heat pumps using R-22.  We feel that before this date, the industry will have discovered an alternative refrigerant, ozone safe, as a drop-in replacement for R-22 (as happened with R-12 several years ago in automobiles).  If this happens, it should solve many problems which we have had to deal with for several years now.  We also feel that, as has happened in the past, the government may change its mind and extend these dates to some further time. 

Even though, in the year 2010, R-22 systems will not be manufactured, Refrigerant-22 will still be in production and being produced to satisfy demand until the year 2020, as the schedule stands at this point. 

In our opinion, at this time, we have absolutely no reservations about installing new systems using R-22, and as you can see, the rules are changing and are not necessarily cut and dried.  If, at some future date, new discoveries, new scientific data, or new inventions cause us to rethink this policy, we will post it here on our web site immediately. 

In summary, we intend to continue to install R-22 systems for the near future and do not want our customers to fall prey to misinformation, scare tactics, or misleading advertising concerning these systems.  We have installed 410A systems and have no reason to believe that they will do anything other than what they are supposed to do and we do not have a problem installing these systems if customers prefer it.  We just want them to be able to make an educated decision without being misinformed.

Should you have any further questions about this, please contact us.