R-22 and the HCFC Phase-Out: What's Left to Know
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At a glance
R-22 is a class II ozone-depleting substance with an ODP of 0.055, and its production and import were banned outright as of 2020. Existing systems can still be serviced from reclaimed and recycled supply through the phase-out that completes in 2030.
On this page
R-22 isn't banned from use. What's banned is making or importing more of it. That distinction, and the schedule behind it, decides what service, retrofit or replace actually means for a system still running on R-22.
The phase-out timeline
R-22 is a hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC), one of the class II ozone-depleting substances the Clean Air Act phases out on a schedule set to meet the Montreal Protocol. EPA's own phase-out page lays the U.S. schedule out year by year:
| Year | Action | Cumulative reduction |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | No production or import of HCFC-141b | — |
| 2004 | — | 35.0% |
| 2010 | No production or import of HCFC-142b and HCFC-22, except for use in equipment manufactured before January 1, 2010 | 75.0% |
| 2015 | No production or import of any other HCFCs, except as refrigerants in equipment manufactured before January 1, 2020 | 90.0% |
| 2020 | No production or import of HCFC-142b and HCFC-22 | 99.5% |
| 2030 | No production or import of any HCFCs | 100.0% |
R-22 crossed its last production-and-import milestone in 2020. Since then, the only R-22 legally entering the market is what's already been recovered, reclaimed and recycled from existing equipment — there's no new virgin supply, and there won't be any again.
Where R-22 sits on the class II list
The eCFR's own class II list, Appendix B to Subpart A of Part 82, gives an ozone depletion potential (ODP) for every HCFC subject to the phase-out. HCFC-22 is entry 2 on that list, at an ODP of 0.055 — well below CFC-11's reference value of 1.0, but not zero, which is why EPA phases it out on its own schedule rather than treating it as a permanent substitute. EPA's own phase-out page puts HCFC-22's real-world weight in context: "Although 34 HCFCs are subject to the phaseout, only a few were commonly used." HCFC-22 was, historically, the most widely used of them, mainly as a refrigerant. Refrigerant blends built around HCFC-22, such as R-401A and R-408A, follow the same restrictions even though they aren't named individually among the controlled compounds, because they contain a class II substance.
Service, retrofit or replace
Once a system is confirmed to be running R-22, three paths are on the table, and none of them is automatic:
- Service it with reclaimed R-22. Existing equipment can still be legally serviced with recovered and reclaimed supply for as long as that supply exists and remains affordable; there's no date at which servicing an R-22 system becomes illegal on its own.
- Retrofit to an approved substitute. Some R-22 systems can run an approved retrofit refrigerant instead, subject to the equipment manufacturer's own guidance and the refrigerant's own listing conditions.
- Replace the system. New equipment is built for a substitute refrigerant from the start — R-410A has been the common choice in the residential and light-commercial market for the last two decades.
If a system at or above a 50-pound full charge is leaking, the decision also has to account for 40 CFR 82.157's own leak-repair rule, which applies to R-22 by name as a class II refrigerant: see refrigerant leak repair: which rule applies for the thresholds and what triggers them. For the pressure–temperature numbers themselves, compare the R-22 chart against the R-410A chart.