R22 freon is a type of chlorodifluoromethane which is a refrigerant. It is most commonly used in air conditioning units and other various sorts of refrigeration applications.
However, the use of R22 freon is banned in a lot of places due to its harmful impact on the ozone layer.
R22 freon cost per pound
A pound of R22 can have a varying price anywhere from twenty to fifty dollars per pound depending on where you are purchasing it from. Furthermore, if you intend to call upon a repair team, they will charge you anywhere from ninety to a hundred and fifty dollars for a pound of R22 freon.
Prior to 2010, our homes and offices were cooled by AC and HVAC units which were completely driven by R22 freon coolants. However, the EPA (Environment Protection Agency) found out that it creates significant damage to the ozone layer of our planet.
Since then, the use of R22 freon was targeted to be removed between the years of 2010 and 2030. It is banned now to build appliances which use R22 freon to operate.
Now, refilling AC units with this element can cost anywhere from a hundred and fifty to three hundred and fifty dollars. Although, there are much larger R22 freon systems which could cost as much as six hundred dollars to refill along with the whole service.
A high-functioning HVAC unit requires a R22 refill only when there is something wrong with the unit, for example: a freon leak, a common ac repair.
Having someone to fix your AC unit would also carry extra restoring charges which could range from fifty to a hundred and fifty dollars an hour.
There are many factors which can influence the price of R22 freon per pound. As we get further away from 2010, the prices of R22 freon are only likely to increase.
It will definitely get more and more expensive in the future until it is completely banned in 2030.
Other factors could include the size of your AC or HVAC system, not only that but how old it may be. This may not be directly correlated to the cost per pound of freon, but instead the amount of freon that is required.
In some places, you might not even be able to buy R22 freon as they may not produce it over there and is not even allowed to import this variant of freon from somewhere else.
From January 1st of 2020, the EPA (Environment Protection Agency) does not even allow the production of R22 Freon anymore.
This means that sometimes, you may even need to purchase R22 freon from existing AC and HVAC units which are meant to be recycled.
You cannot even run an appliance which needs R22 freon by any other refrigerant due to pressure differences and being unsafe for that appliance.
What is the average cost of Freon per pound?
The more common type of freon in the market would be R22 freon, and R410A freon. Each has their own price points to start with and end. A pound of R410A freon can start from fifty dollars, while going up to eighty dollars.
On the other hand R22 freon can cost as low as ninety dollars while going all the way up to a hundred and fifty dollars.
As these two are the most commonly used refrigerants, we will consider only these two. The average cost of freon can range anywhere as low as seventy dollars to as high as a hundred and fifteen dollars.
But considering seven different types of freon into account, we could say that the average cost of freon per pound starts from sixty dollars and goes all the way up to a hundred and three dollars.
Why is freon so expensive?
In the context of R22 freon, it has only been getting more and more expensive over the years and it is not looking to stop anytime soon. There are multiple reasons for this, to which a few of them are stated below.
Minimizing the Use of R22 freon by 2030:
In 2010, the EPA (Environment Protection Agency) made a discovery that R22 freon causes a lot of damage to the ozone layer of our planet.
Due to this, they have issued laws around the United States to minimize the usage of R22 freon everywhere between the years of 2010 to 2030.
Ban of R22 freon after 2030:
R22 freon is destined to be banned completely after the year of 2030. Since a lot of us still use our old appliances requiring R22 freon, we still tend to have a demand for it.
With the demand being there, and time only seeming to run out until R22 freon is completely banned, their prices only keep going higher.
Ban of production of R22 freon in 2020:
In the year of 2020, R22 freon production was completely halted by the EPA (Environment Protection Agency).
This resulted in a further shortage of R22 freon, the demand of R22 freon has only been going up while supply has been going down.
Extracting R22 freon from old AC/HVAC units:
Since the halt of the production of R22 freon, one of the most effective ways to get your hands on some would be to extract it from old AC/HVAC units.
This method of extracting R22 freon can be even more expensive than actually producing it in-house. Therefore, this skyrockets the price of R22 freon.
Depleting supply of existing R22 freon:
Along with all of these restrictions, there is no more production of R22 freon, it is only being used up as time is passing. Hence, supply is only decreasing with increasing demand.
How much freon does appliances need and how much do they cost to refill?
The amount of freon consumption vary appliance to appliance. Let’s get to know how much freon is needed for different appliance.
Refrigerator:
The amount of freon you need in a refrigerator will vary with different sizes of refrigerators. A small refrigerator would take about under thirty grams all the way up to a hundred and seventy grams of freon.
This number can go much higher depending on the size of the refrigerator that a household may be using. The cost of refilling freon into a refrigerator can be upwards of ninety dollars and beyond.
The total costs of the whole service including the freon cost and the charge for refilling your refrigerator with freon can be pricey. It may take an average of a hundred to about two hundred and fifty dollars.
AC:
Just like refrigerators, the amount of freon needed to refill your AC would vastly vary along with the size of your AC. There is a specific amount of freon needed for per ton of AC that is used.
For per ton of AC, you would need about two to four pounds of freon. Let us say you would need an average of three pounds of freon per ton.
From this we can say that you would need three times the ton of AC you are speculating on refilling.
Hence, a two ton AC would need an average of six pounds of freon to refill it. On the flip side, it costs a lot more money to have someone do it for you which you certainly have to.
The freon and service charge could range anywhere from two hundred to six hundred dollars.
What is the replacement for the R22 freon?
The most viable replacement to the R22 freon would be the R407C. Relative to the R22 freon, it has a low loss of capacity range from zero to five percent. It is also much cheaper than any R22 refrigerant.
However, if a system or unit is already run by the R22 freon, you cannot replace it with any other sort of refrigerant. There are also other common replacements to the R22 freon. Some of them include: MO-99, R427A, RS – 44B, NU – 22.
There have also been new sorts of refrigerants which are manufactured keeping EPA (Environment Protection Agency) guidelines in mind. Some of them include: R – 32, R454B, R466A, R470A.
The refrigerants following the EPA guidelines also have less risks towards the environment and also make sure the heat pumps of your regular HVAC units are more efficient and performant.
Final Thoughts
Hence, the refrigerant chlorodifluoromethane known as the R22 freon will cost anywhere from twenty to fifty dollars per pound depending on where you are picking it up from. While having a repair team would cost anywhere from ninety to a hundred and fifty dollars.