thanks for the thoughts. The newspaper here in Charlotte had a story a few weeks back that some companies were up to $200/lb for R22. I felt lucky to only pay $67/lb.

Can anyone else weigh in on this?

Thanks.

If dollars are your major concern and your truly only going to be in the home another year or two and think the outside condenser unit is in good shape then go for the new coil. You will be taking a gamble that the outside unit holds up until after you sell the house.

The best choice however is going with an entire new unit. You may even get more money for your home when you sell it due to it having a relatively new system and you won't be worrying about any major additional costs as the new equipment warranty will be in force.

I don't like repairing old R-22 systems. I would recommending investing in something new that will be trouble free for years to come. I think you can find a better price on a new system. There are other brands less expensive that are good too and are usually installed inexpensively by independent installers.

For those of you who do not know the the EPA rules...the EPA requires any home system that is short 15% of the r22 that your unit holds, the A/C tech is required to find the leak and repair with in 30 days of finding the leak. If you have a home warranty and their policy is to fill and use a leak stop, do not allow them to do this because they have to fix it. You call the EPA if you have to to stop these warranty companies from trying to skirt around the EPA and not fixing the leaks.

^^^Huh??? Requires? or Recommends?

Requires. Here is the link from the EPA website. https://www.epa.gov/section608/stationary-refrigeration-leak-repair-requirements

Refrigerant appliance contains more than 50 pounds of refrigerant.

Home air conditioners at the high end would only contain around 20 pounds. So this rule does not apply.

However, because of cost it is no longer feasible to just refill an AC system. You should fix the leak(s) at a minimum.

Seeing as how you have yourself listed as a pro you will see that if a small a/c unit is 15% less than it's holding amount that you must locate the leak on r22 and it must be fixed within 30 days. Now the rule for a commercial unit is that not only do you have to fix and or replace within 30 days you also have to go back and make sure the unit is fixed and not leaking. You will also see that it is 35% of missing r22 for commercial units. And to be a pro and EPA certified these are questions on the exam. So please do not try to confuse the every day consumer on making sure their job is done correctly.

Trigger Rates

The following trigger leak rates apply for a 12-month period:Appliance TypeTrigger Leak RateCommercial refrigeration35%Industrial process refrigerationa35%Comfort cooling15%All other appliances15%a Industrial process refrigeration is defined as complex customized appliances used in the chemical, pharmaceutical, petrochemical, and manufacturing industries. These appliances are directly linked to the industrial process. This sector also includes industrial ice machines, appliances used directly in the generation of electricity, and ice rinks.

Corrective Action

In general, owners or operators of an appliance that is leaking refrigerant above the applicable trigger rate must either:

• Repair leaks within 30 days from the date the leak was discovered, or
• Develop, within 30 days, a plan to retrofit or retire the appliance and complete the actions under that plan within 1 year.

Owners or operators of industrial process refrigeration equipment and federally owned chillers must conduct initial and follow-up verification tests at the conclusion of any repair efforts. These tests are essential to ensure that the repairs have been successful. In cases where an industrial process shutdown is required, a repair period of 120 days is substituted for the normal 30-day repair period. Any appliance that requires additional time may be subject to recordkeeping/reporting requirements.

you're not reading the requirements right. Why do you think that the manufacturer's kept making R22 condensers up until about a year ago when the cut off date for new equipment containing R22 Freon was supposed to be Jan. 1, 2010?

Why do you think that to this day Home warranty companies continue to recharge R22 Freon home cooling systems without repairing leaks unless the system leaks can't maintain cooling past 30 to 60 DAYS?

Re-read the EPA requirements. You aren't reading them right.

Applies to appliances with more than 50 LBS of refrigerant charge.

https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2015/11/09/2015-26946/protection-of-stratospheric-ozone-update-to-the-refrigerant-management-requirements-under-the-clean#h-117