If you have been told your air conditioner needs replacing because of the R-410A phase out, read this before you sign anything. The switch to R-454B and other new refrigerants is real, but much of what homeowners hear about it, especially the idea of a hard 2026 deadline, is out of date.
The Refrigerant Changeover, by Maurice Johnson. A homeowner's field guide to R-410A, R-454B and what a repair quote actually means. Free PDF, about 85 pages, readable on a phone or printable. No form, no email.
Download the free PDFThe book is sold on Amazon in paperback, hardcover and Kindle editions. Austin AC Service offers the PDF free because the questions in it are the ones Austin homeowners face every summer, usually with a technician standing in the kitchen and the house getting warmer. The rest of this page summarizes what the book covers, checks its key regulatory facts against current public sources, and explains what they mean for a house in Central Texas.
The six things to know about the R-410A phase out
The book closes with six sentences meant to be remembered. In plain terms:
- There is no installation deadline anymore for systems whose components were made before January 1, 2025.
- Repairing and servicing the system you own was never restricted and still is not.
- R-410A remains available for service, more and more from reclaimed stock, at prices expected to rise in steps.
- The rule is about a number, 700, the global warming potential limit, not about a brand name.
- Sizing and installation quality will decide whether you are happy with a new system far more than which refrigerant it uses.
- Check the date on anything you read about this, because the rules changed three times in three years.
How the refrigerant rules changed, 2020 to 2026
The dates that matter for a home air conditioner, Rows marked "per the book" are taken from the book's Appendix A and could not be independently re-checked for this page; the rest were confirmed against the EPA, IRS and trade sources listed below.
| When | What happened | What it meant at home |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 1, 2020 | Production and import of R-22, the refrigerant in most systems installed before about 2010, ended in the U.S. Per the book, new R-22 equipment had already stopped in 2010. | R-22 systems can still be serviced, but only with recovered, reclaimed or stockpiled refrigerant, which made major leak repairs costly. |
| Dec 2020 | The American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act directed the EPA to phase down HFC production and consumption to 15 percent of historic baseline by 2036 (per the book). | Set the long-term squeeze on R-410A supply. It limits how much is produced, not whether you can use it. |
| Oct to Dec 2023 | EPA's Technology Transitions rule set a 700 GWP limit for new residential and light commercial AC and heat pumps from Jan 1, 2025, and allowed split systems built from earlier components to be installed until Jan 1, 2026. | The source of the "2026 deadline" that is still repeated online. |
| Jan 1, 2025 | Manufacture and import of new home AC and heat pump equipment designed for refrigerants at or above 700 GWP stopped. This part stands. | New systems now ship with R-454B or R-32. Existing R-410A systems carry on. |
| Jul 4, 2025 | The One Big Beautiful Bill Act ended the 25C home energy credit for property placed in service after Dec 31, 2025. | No federal tax credit for a 2026 install. Utility rebates remain. |
| May 2026 | EPA's final reconsideration rule, effective July 27, 2026, removed the installation compliance date for systems whose specified components were all made or imported before Jan 1, 2025. | Leftover R-410A equipment can still be installed, with no federal cutoff date. Repairs were never restricted. |
| Ahead: 2029, 2034, 2036 | Per the book, the HFC cap, now at 60 percent of baseline, steps down to 30 percent (2029 to 2033), 20 percent (2034 and 2035) and 15 percent (2036 on). | The book flags 2029 as the step to watch for R-410A service costs. |
What R-454B and A2L actually mean
The federal rule does not name any refrigerant. It caps global warming potential, a measure of how much heat a gas traps compared with the same weight of carbon dioxide. As the book lays out, R-410A sits at 2,088, roughly three times over the limit of 700. The two replacements that took over the home market sit under it: R-454B at 466 and R-32 at 675. "The line is 700, not a brand name," Johnson writes.
Both new refrigerants carry the safety class A2L. As the book explains it, the A means low toxicity. The 2L means mildly flammable, with a low burning velocity. R-410A is A1, nonflammable. That is why new equipment includes refrigerant detection sensors and why installers need current training, and it is also why an R-410A system cannot simply be refilled with R-454B.
Which one you get usually depends on the equipment, not on a choice you make. Most ducted central systems from the big American manufacturers went to R-454B; many ductless mini-splits use R-32. The book's advice is not to agonize over it, because sizing and installation quality matter far more.
What this means for you
The book sorts its advice by the situation you are in. Here is the short version for each.
Your system is working
Nothing in the rules asks anything of you. Change the filter, book a spring tune-up before the heat arrives, and write down two facts from the data plate on the outdoor unit: its age and its refrigerant. You will want both the next time anyone hands you a quote.
It is not cooling well
Rule out the filter first. If the system is low on refrigerant, it has a leak, because refrigerant is not used up. The question to ask is where it is leaking and whether that leak can be repaired so it lasts. Running a low system for weeks can turn a leak repair into a compressor replacement. See AC repair.
You have been quoted a repair
Get the failed part named and the diagnosis in writing. Replacing a single R-410A component such as a compressor or a coil is a repair, and it is allowed with no end date. What counts as a new installation is replacing the outdoor unit and the indoor coil together.
You are replacing the system
Expect R-454B or R-32. Ask for a Manual J load calculation done in the house, model numbers, permit status and the labor warranty in writing. Ask about lead time separately from price. And if you are on Austin Energy, check the rebate rules before you sign.
Someone says you must replace by a deadline
Ask which rule they mean. The book suggests one question that separates a sound recommendation from a sales pitch: is the system being replaced because a part failed and repair does not make economic sense, or because of the refrigerant rules? Only the first is a reason.
You are buying or selling a house
Buyers: read the age from the data plate rather than the disclosure form, ask what refrigerant it uses and ask for service records. Sellers: maintenance records support a lower effective age, and a written contractor quote anchors any credit request. In Austin, ECAD may also apply; see HVAC inspections.
What the book covers, part by part
The Refrigerant Changeover runs to twenty-two short chapters and four appendices. It moves from the rules, to the money, to the decisions a homeowner actually has to make.
The rules (chapters one to four)
The opening chapters trace how the installation deadline was set, softened and then removed, and why the wrong version still dominates search results. They separate three things that get blurred together, making equipment, installing it and servicing it, and explain the stepped HFC allowance schedule and why reclaimed refrigerant sits outside the production cap. Chapter four, which the author calls the one that saves people money, sets out exactly where the line between a repair and a new installation falls.
The money (chapters five, six, ten and nineteen)
Johnson collects the per-pound refrigerant prices and new-system price ranges that different 2026 sources published and shows why they disagree: some are wholesale, some are what a homeowner is billed, and some bundle labor, recovery and the leak search into a single per-pound figure. He reports these figures as published, not as estimates, and gives the questions that make any quote readable. Chapter ten covers the end of the 25C credit and how to look for utility and state rebates instead. Chapter nineteen explains SEER2, EER2 and HSPF2 ratings, the higher minimum efficiency that applies in southern states including Texas, and how to tell whether a more efficient tier will pay back.
The system in your house (chapters seven to nine, twelve to fourteen, twenty and twenty-one)
These chapters cover typical equipment lifespans and the replacement signals that matter, why R-454B and R-32 differ, why sizing with a Manual J load calculation outweighs the refrigerant choice, how a proper leak diagnosis works, simple maintenance, how long R-410A is likely to stay available, ductwork losses, and why heat pumps keep showing up on quotes. On sizing, the author is blunt: "Sizing is the thing that determines whether you are satisfied."
Decisions under pressure (chapters eleven, fifteen to eighteen and twenty-two)
The later chapters deal with choosing a contractor, buying or selling a house with an aging system, what could still change, and what the R-22 phaseout teaches about how this transition is likely to play out: through cost, over years, not by decree. The last chapter is written for the worst case, a system that quits in August, and makes the case for a "bridge" repair that buys time to replace deliberately in the fall. The appendices hold the full timeline, question lists sorted by situation, the conflicting published figures side by side, and where to check each rule yourself.
Why this matters more in Austin
Central Texas puts air conditioners under more strain than most of the country. Camp Mabry recorded 80 days at 100 degrees or hotter in 2023, including a record 45 in a row. Long run times are when weak capacitors, slow leaks and tired compressors finally give out, and July and August are when replacement decisions get made in a hurry. The book's closing advice applies here with extra force: "Take the decision on your own timeline. You have more of it than you have been told."
Two local details are worth adding. First, if your home still has an R-22 system, it can be repaired, but with R-22 production ended in 2020, any repair that needs a significant amount of refrigerant deserves a side-by-side replacement price. Second, if Austin Energy is your utility, its rebates require a participating contractor and specific equipment, so a planned replacement in spring or fall, rather than an emergency one in August, gives you time to line those up. A new system installed in 2026 will run on an A2L refrigerant either way.
Safety note. Refrigerant work, including adding refrigerant and searching for leaks, must be done by an EPA Section 608 certified technician. As the book notes, homeowners cannot buy R-410A themselves without that certification, so every recharge runs through a contractor. If you smell gas from a furnace, leave the house and call your gas utility or 911 from outside. If a carbon monoxide alarm sounds, get everyone out and call 911.
Ready to read it? The Refrigerant Changeover by Maurice Johnson, free PDF, one click, nothing to fill in. Share the page link, not the file.
Download the free PDFThe book is general information. It is not a quote, and it does not replace a licensed technician looking at your specific system. Regulations it describes are summarized from public sources and can change; the author says so himself and points readers to the EPA's own pages, listed below, to check the current version.
- Call any hourAn automated assistant answers (737) 378-9016 and asks whether it is about cooling or heating.
- Describe the problemGive your name, a callback number, your city or ZIP and what the system is doing.
- Get put throughThe call goes to an independent, locally owned HVAC company, which hears a short summary before it picks up.
- Deal with them directlyThat company diagnoses, quotes, does the work and is paid by you. If it cannot answer, it gets your details to call back.
How this line works: Austin AC Service is a free phone line, not an HVAC company. It does not repair, install, quote or schedule work and holds no license. Calls are transferred to independent, locally owned HVAC companies that hold Texas air conditioning and refrigeration contractor licenses. Those companies may pay Austin AC Service a referral fee. You never pay the line. How it works.
Check any license yourself. Texas air conditioning and refrigeration contractors are licensed by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Ask for the license number and look it up at tdlr.texas.gov (opens in a new tab).
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AC Installation and Replacement
Repair or replace, sizing by load calculation, the R-454B refrigerant change, permits, and Austin Energy rebates.
HVAC Maintenance and Tune-Ups
A spring cooling check before the heat and a fall heating check before the first freeze, and what a real tune-up includes.
Before you collect quotes, read how to choose an HVAC company in Austin for the license lookup and the red flags to watch for.