Even though the years remaining before the phaseout of hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) R-22 can be counted on two hands with fingers to spare, current inventory of the industry’s most popular refrigerant remains plentiful, despite the fact that production and importation are down more than 40 percent in two years while heading toward a total phaseout in 2020. Reasons include a spike in production allowed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for 2013 only, mild weather, less R-22 equipment coming to market, and use of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) alternatives in retrofitting existing R-22 equipment.
After allowing just 55 million pounds of R-22 to be produced and imported in 2012, the EPA upped the total in 2013 to 62.8 million pounds and then promised a return to a downward production spiral with a 2014 allocation of 51 million pounds. In general, it is understood that the EPA is trying to allow for adequate, non-disruptive servicing of the existing R-22 equipment inventory while still steering the industry toward non-R-22 alternatives.