Big year coming up on us real soon.
There will be some very big decisions to make.
Far, far too much information will flood my brain in making some of those critical decisions. Not all of the decisions to be made revolve around politics. January 1, 2020 will be the first day that it is illegal to produce R 22 refrigerant or sometimes called Freon. This stuff has proven to be better than the stuff from way back decades ago. But, it is still harmful to the environment and there are much better alternatives out there. The HVAC industry has be preparing for this eventuality for some time now. Both commercial and residential HVAC systems have not been manufactured using R 22 for at least the last 5 years. In most cases, it has been closer to a decade since R 22 was used. However, there are still quite a few heating and cooling systems which use this type of refrigerant. Those who own the older heating and cooling using the R 22 Freon will have an important decision to make. I am one of those people. Our heat pump is just over 20 years old. It still works but not well. We’ve been on borrowed time for quite a while. I can either upgrade the HVAC as it desperately needs. Or, I can stockpile R 22 now because it’s going to get very expensive in the coming months. It really seems like a no brainer to me. I ran the numbers to find that the energy savings alone on a new HVAC will really soften the blow from the initial cost outlay. And I’d be doing my part for the environment.