You might have been thinking about replacing your outdated R-22 air conditioner to improve your energy efficiency, save a little money, and do better by the environment via shrinking your home's carbon footprint. If so, make sure you do it by January 1st, 2020. On that day, the slow R-22 phase out will end, and the refrigerant becomes illegal to manufacture in or import into the United States.
Should You Upgrade to R-410A Now?
Probably. R-410A is a latest generation coolant. Unlike previous refrigerant formulas, it won't leak harmful particles into the atmosphere to destroy the ozone layer. As part of the Montreal Protocol, the United States and many other countries agreed to limit such emissions in order to prevent annihilation of life as we know it. Despite that, there are still a lot of US homes that use older coolants like R-22 and others. R-22 doesn't make an air conditioner more inefficient than R-410A, but, unlike R-410A, R-22 is going to be gone soon. It's already tough to find a new residential air conditioner that uses it.