Refrigerants for Air Conditioning

The cooling medium of a air conditioning or refrigeration system is called its refrigerant. CFC's or chlorofluorocarbons are used as refrigerants in some commercial air conditioning and refrigeration systems. CFC's are considered to be 100% ozone depleting and are very dangerous to the environment. In most residential air conditioners and many refrigeration systems it is R-22 or Freon which is a hydrochlorofluorocarbon or HCFC. HCFCs are considered to be 5% ozone depleting and are also a danger to the earths vital ozone layer.

Freon is an Environmental Protection Agency controlled substance which is deemed hazardous. Some CFCs must be managed as hazardous waste, even if recycled and special precautions are required for their transport.
According to environmental laws any refrigerant that is removed must be extracted and and filtered by a certified technician using a certified refrigerant recovery or recycling machine. Freon must be removed from all appliances before they are disposed of including freezers, refrigerators, and home and automobile air conditioners.

As of July 1, 1992 it is illegal to release Freon or other refrigerants into the atmosphere because they can cause severe damage to the ozone layer. When CFCs are removed they should be recycled to clean out any contaminants and return it to a usable condition. Refrigerants should never be mixed together. Some CFCs must be managed as hazardous waste, even if recycled and special precautions are required for their transport.

Air conditioners do not consume Freon and you should never need to add or change the Freon in your air conditioning system unless there is a Freon leak. An air conditioning technician will not have to recover and recycle refrigerant during every call. This process will usually happen when system components need to be replaced or when there is a Freon leak. The laws on CFC's do not allow an air conditioning contractor to add Freon to a leaky commercial system if the leak is within 30% of the units capacity. They are required to fix the leak in the system. Violation of this law may cause contractors to loose their license.