TL;DR
R-22 is the HCFC refrigerant that charged most residential air conditioners and heat pumps built before 2010, phased out under the Montreal Protocol because it depletes stratospheric ozone. Production and import for the US market ended on January 1, 2020, so servicing an old system now relies on reclaimed or stockpiled gas at steep prices.
What it means
R-22 is the HCFC refrigerant that charged most residential air conditioners and heat pumps built before 2010, phased out under the Montreal Protocol because it depletes stratospheric ozone. Production and import for the US market ended on January 1, 2020, so servicing an old system now relies on reclaimed or stockpiled gas at steep prices. A major leak on an aging unit is usually the economic tipping point for replacing the system rather than recharging it.
Where it sits in the glossary
R-22 is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
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