Why are repairs to Air Conditioners going to increase?

The production of R-22 refrigerant has been reduced by 50 percent and there has been a rather large increase in the cost to contractors. What does this mean to the average home owner? Any repair on equipment using R-22 refrigerant that needs to be repaired, the cost are going to double. The average homeowner will now pay anywhere from $40.00 to $100.00 per pound of refrigerant depending on where they live. If a home owner decides to use a contractor that uses Dry-Charged R-22 equipment there will an additional charge for installing new R-22 refrigerant for the new equipment, which could be costly.

The only alternative is to replace your equipment with the new R-410A systems.

http://www.achrnews.com/articles/epa-proposes-faster-r22-phaseout