What HVAC Technicians Need To Know About R22 Replacements? Freon or R22 has been the mainstay in refrigerant coolants for many years. But the refrigerant was found to cause damage to the ozone layer of the planet as far back as the latter part of the 1980s. The Montreal Protocol was implemented to phase out the use of R22 in many stages. The final stage of the phase-out is to be completed in January 2020. After this date, Freon won’t be available on the market even to repair existing HVAC systems. R22 is available today only to repair existing systems that may break down from time to time. But the…