Just in case someone hasn’t been keeping up, 12/31/09 is the last day for legal manufacture of R-22 equipment…and may end up being the last day of legal installation of R-22 equipment. I’m no authority on the EPA regulations governing the phase-out of R-22 or R-22 equipment, but from what I read the EPA has “adjusted” the definition of “date of manufacture” from when it was made, to when it’s installed…
If you remember, when the 10 SEER equipment efficiency standard was plowed under to make room for the 13 SEER standard, many wholesalers and contractors stockpiled a lot of 10 SEER equipment to sell after the new standard went into effect, with no legal ramifications to contend with. But if you were thinking about filling up the company shop and parking lot (or garage in my case) with a bunch of Goodman 22 units the last week of December, 2009 …better reflect on that course of action a little longer. And stay more in tune with the ongoing internal activities of our friends at the EPA. I don’t believe the final ruling has been set in 15% silver yet, but again don’t take my word for what is or isn’t.
For many, the execution date set for 22 equipment will be just another ho-hum day… no parades, no memorial services. The combination of nixed mismatches of 13 SEER equipment with pre-13 SEER equipment, plus the already existing availability of 410A equipment, led some percentage of contractors to accepting the inevitable and ditching R-22 powered systems long past. But there are always those reluctant to change, if for no reason other than human nature. For me, I didn’t want to continue selling something that was about to become, essentially, obsolete. Nor did I want to speculate as to what it might cost to add a couple of pounds of “Freon-22″ (or Nu-22 for that matter) in 2015+…
And I’m not passing judgment on what anyone has or has not, is or is not doing. It remains, after all, a free country. And for sure, if the manufacturer’s keep making the stuff, somebody will keep buying it…just don’t get caught without a chair when the music stops.
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