R-22 replacement – what you need to know

R-22 replacement (the removal of old air conditioning and refrigeration units) is a complex and considerable legislation that is about to affect thousands of businesses in the UK.

The latest developments in heat pump technology have resulted in lower efficiency of the older forms of air conditioning. This directly impacts the emissions of CO2.

This is the reason why the Government is implementing the replacement and removal of lower temperature refrigeration units that use R-22. This phase-out of R-22 refrigeration units will be completed by 2015 as the Government is enforcing this as part of their campaign in order to tackle global warming. Studies show that the gases emitted by these air conditioning units are harmful to the ozone layer thus resulting in excessive environmental damage and UV levels.

R-22 refrigerants are extensively used in industrial refrigeration plants and so the changes in air conditioning legislation will affect every company that makes use of R-22 refrigerants. 2015 may sound like a long way off, but as most commercial air conditioning units that were fitted before 2001 in the UK utilise R-22, there are a lot of units to deal with.

All R-22 refrigeration air conditioning units need to be replaced with ODP refrigerants. So, if you own an air conditioning unit, make sure that it is replaced with a non ozone depleting refrigerant as early as possible.