R22 Price Increase

[Brian_UK]

Just received notification through work that Dupont have, with effect from 20th March 2008, increased the price of R22 by 25%.

This covers Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Time to tell your customers to seriously think about changing gases.

[dsp]

Hello Brian,
Same thing is happening down here in Australia. It will continue to rise as the quota for the wholesalers decreases from one year to the next.

Need to make sure we are charging it out to our customers at the correct rate.

dsp

[paul_h]

R22 is the cheapest refrigerant by far down here. I haven't heard anything about a price rise here, still getting it for $13 + levies.
Even with a 25% increase, it's still cheaper than r410a.
Still it's wise to buy all new units in r410a, even though the r22 units are too cheap to resist.
Lots of people installing mistral a/cs, you can buy a 2.5kw at the hardware stores for $300, comes with all electrical cable, drain, insulation, even mounting screws, nuts and putty to fill the hole up. All you need is a fridgey and some pair coil
As you can imagine, these things are going up in bedrooms everywhere.

[Grizzly]

R22 is the cheapest refrigerant by far down here. I haven't heard anything about a price rise here, still getting it for $13 + levies.
Even with a 25% increase, it's still cheaper than r410a.
Still it's wise to buy all new units in r410a, even though the r22 units are too cheap to resist.
Lots of people installing mistral a/cs, you can buy a 2.5kw at the hardware stores for $300, comes with all electrical cable, drain, insulation, even mounting screws, nuts and putty to fill the hole up. All you need is a fridgey and some pair coil
As you can imagine, these things are going up in bedrooms everywhere.

I thought the restrictions on operating and installing etc.
Were worse than for us over here Paul?

Sounds like a nightmare waiting to happen?
Grizzly

[paul_h]

Hardly anyone self installs here, so it least that's a bonus, but r22 phase out has been pushed back to 2012 or something like that.
Cheap a/cs still use it because the refrigerant is cheap and the efficiency is better than r410a. Plus lets face it, they are copying older name brands systems, so they prefer the refrigerant fujitsu, daikin and panasonic et al used in the vintage of the units they are copying.

No one here polices installers, ie labourers or plumbers, or manufacturers, everyone polices refrigeration techs.
The government who writes the rules is only interested in catching fridgies, the people who work for them don't have the resources to check up on installers who don't need to purchase refrigerant.
However if you have a refrigerant purchasing license, they want to know your every move.
bottom line:
You don't need a licence to buy a split with 2kg of refrigerant in it. But if you are a refrig tech and purchase refrigerant cylinders from teh wholesalers, you need to account for all of it.

[Brian_UK]

Here in the UK you can't officially buy any R22 kit and haven't been able to for some time.

[nike123]

and the efficiency is better than r410a.

I am not sure that this is the case!

[paul_h]

One of the reasons why there's a lot of people buying cheap R22 units is that they rate higher in the consumers guide in efficiency. The cheap home brand r22 split that I bought two years ago topped the awards compared to the non inverter r410a systems. Pumping against a higher head pressure draws more current

[the mojo]

The advanced Montreal protocol will mean a pinch to everyone involved using it.

Don't wait til you're the last kid on the block without a chair when the music stops.

There is $$$$ to be made by responsible contractors who are ahead of the curve.

[star882]

One of the reasons why there's a lot of people buying cheap R22 units is that they rate higher in the consumers guide in efficiency. The cheap home brand r22 split that I bought two years ago topped the awards compared to the non inverter r410a systems. Pumping against a higher head pressure draws more current

How does efficiency compare when the R22 system is retrofitted with a R290-based refrigerant?

[ice_cool]

we believe the price will decreas very sharply in 2009.

[Brian_UK]

we believe the price will decreas very sharply in 2009.

- - Why ? - -