The refrigerant change, for Stockton homeowners

The rule in plain terms

The rule comes out of the AIM Act's Technology Transitions program. For new air conditioners and heat pumps in homes and light commercial buildings, EPA capped global warming potential (GWP) at 700, effective January 1, 2025. R-32 clears that cap, per EPA's FAQ, and the same FAQ groups R-32 and R-454B as mildly flammable gases that belong only in equipment engineered to use them.

EPA has already revised the rule once. The first version set January 1, 2026 as the last day to install a new R-410A system, regardless of when its parts were built. A reconsideration rule dated May 26, 2026 dropped that cutoff for systems built entirely from components manufactured or imported before January 1, 2025, according to EPA's sector table (updated August 28, 2026). You may still find EPA pages that describe the old 2026 deadline.

Owners of an R-410A system

• Keep running it. EPA states that existing systems can be used and serviced as before.
• If the condenser, the indoor coil or a smaller component fails, EPA's FAQ allows a like-for-like R-410A replacement. Parts that go into repairing an existing system fall outside the restriction.
• Any R-410A part manufactured after January 1, 2025 has to carry a label saying it is for servicing existing equipment only.

If you have an older R-22 system

R-22 is no longer produced in the US, so a recharge depends on reclaimed refrigerant and costs more. Fixr lists R-22 at $50 to $80 a pound against $12 to $25 for R-410A. Houses in central Stockton and Lincoln Village, where most homes predate 1980, are where these older systems still turn up. A leaking R-22 system is usually a replacement candidate. Repair or replace.

Buying a new system

Expect the quote to name R-32 or R-454B, and expect the indoor coil to be part of it, because the condenser and coil are designed as a pair. Bolting a new outdoor unit onto the old R-410A coil inside the house is a different, lesser job than a matched system. Two questions settle it: which refrigerant does the quoted equipment run on, and is a new coil on the invoice? In Stockton the replacement also needs a city permit and a field test. New system costs.

The SEER2 minimums didn't change with the refrigerant: split-system air conditioners under 45,000 Btu/h installed in California since 2023 must be at least 14.3 SEER2.