Refrigerant Pricing

It should come as no surprise that alternative refrigerants may tend to cost more than the refrigerants they replace. However, as the supplies of the alternatives increase and the taxes on CFCs increase, the alternatives will be more and more economic for many cooling systems.

In 1989, the federal government imposed an excise tax on certain ozone-depleting chemicals. This tax has been increasing late 1992. The tax was designed to penalize consumers of refrigerants with a high Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP) and bring prices closer to the then more expensive alternatives. The tax was applied only to new refrigerant, not recycled or reclaimed refrigerant, and was determined by multiplying the chemical's ODP by the base tax rate.

HCFC-123 costs less than CFC-11. HFC-134a is increasingly competitive with CFC-12. However, because of its more complex manufacturing process HFC-134a is expected to continue to cost more than HCFC-123.