The refrigerant is the heat carrier which properties influence the efficiency of air conditioner functioning, its ecological compatibility and reliability. It has to evaporate and condense in closed circuit alternately, absorbing and giving out heat.
Replacing as you go is not cheating
The new era of air conditioning came when Freon, a health-saving refrigerant, was invented in 1931. It is a fluorine-containing gas or a volatile liquid capable of boiling and evaporating at low temperatures. They are non-toxic, do not form explosive mixtures with the air, do not react with the majority of metals.
It is true that some freons are destructive to the ozone layer of the Earth’s atmosphere, which protects us from excessive ultraviolet radiation. Luckily not all freons are dangerous for ozone layer.
By now the most widespread among the refrigerants are several sorts of freons. Freon brand is designated by the letter R from Refrigerant and several digits, reflecting its chemical composition.
At present, three types of the refrigerant, designed for pressure up to 30 bar, are used in domestic air conditioners: R22, R407C and R410A.
R22 refrigerant is the cheapest, but it contains chlorine, which, if not disposed of properly, leads to the gradual destruction of the ozone layer of the Earth’s atmosphere.
R407C refrigerant is ecologically safe and represents a mix of three refrigerants – R32, R125 and R134, which ratio changes along the length of air conditioner coils with the temperature change. This property makes it more complicated to control the air conditioner. In case of leakage R407C refrigerant should be changed in whole, instead of refilling the system with it, as it could be done with R22. It entails more expensive air conditioner service.
R410A refrigerant is a blend of two refrigerants, is environmentally friendly and has a very low condensing temperature, but requires 60% higher operating pressure than R22 refrigerant. Therefore, when using it, the construction of an air-conditioner should be most reliable.
According to the international Montreal Declaration of 1992 on the reduction of chlorofluorocarbons into the atmosphere, the use of some freons, including R22, is to be phased out by 2014. Nowadays everywhere move to the refrigerants without chlorine. These mixes have the brands R407A, R407B, R407C, R410.
Back in 2001-2003 in most European countries came into force a ban on the sale of air conditioners that run on ozone-dangerous freons.
In the new models of air-conditioners R22 is substituted by R410A which does not contain chlorine and does not deplete ozone.
The market has reacted by mass replacement of air-conditioners operating on R22 by the models on the basis of more ecological refrigerant. Now the most widespread alternative to R22 is R410A, which is also very effective, though the equipment where it is applied costs more than former models.
Here one should notice that after the prohibition of import of air-conditioners with R22, one can follow the restrictions on use of this freon for charging of already installed models. The models intended for one certain freon cannot be charged with another mixtures, that is why one should think of further operation of air conditioners in advance.
Now practically all big manufacturers of split-systems are offering models on the base of R410A or other ecologic freons or their mixtures, most of them have already completely changed over to new brands of refrigerants.
This process has also spawned a wave of updates to the range, not only in terms of CFCs, but also in terms of functionality and technology.
What are the potential consequences of a freon leak in an air conditioner?