How long R-22 will be available is limited because virgin production and import were banned in developed countries from January 1, 2020, and only reclaimed and recycled R-22 from recovered old systems can be used to service existing equipment. As existing R-22 air conditioners age and are retired, less R-22 is recovered, so reclaimed supply will gradually decline over the next 5 to 15 years. In the United States, EPA allows continued use of reclaimed R-22 for servicing existing equipment indefinitely, but does not allow production, so availability depends on how much is recovered. Estimates suggest reclaimed R-22 will be available in small quantities for perhaps 10 to 20 more years, but prices will rise and finding it will become harder, especially during summer peaks. In developing countries under Montreal Protocol, HCFC production must be phased out completely by 2030, after which only limited service tail may exist. For homeowners, this means R-22 may be available for servicing until around 2030 to 2035, but at very high cost and with increasing difficulty, and technicians increasingly recommend replacing R-22 systems with new R-410A, R-32, or R-454B systems rather than continuing to search for expensive R-22.
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