The Freon era is over, and for a lot of associations the bill is still sitting on the roof.

If your community still has rooftop air conditioners that run on R-22, the refrigerant most people still call Freon, those units are not going to fade out quietly. Production and import of new R-22 for routine HVAC service ended on January 1, 2020. The equipment itself is still legal to own and repair, but every pound that goes back into it now comes from reclaimed or leftover stock. That supply is limited, and the price shows it. Installed R-22 commonly runs from about $100 to $250 a pound, several times the cost of the refrigerants in newer systems. A leak that used to be an annoying service call can now be a four-figure recharge before anyone has fixed the leak.

That is the part boards and managers feel first. The part that belongs in the reserve study is what happens next.

You usually cannot just “convert” the refrigerant

R-22 systems were built around a specific refrigerant and a specific oil. Dropping a modern refrigerant into the old machine is not a simple swap. A true retrofit means recovering the old charge, changing oil, and often replacing valves, seals, and other components, and even then, capacity and reliability can suffer. On equipment that is already 15 to 25 years old, most contractors will tell you the math does not work. The practical path is replacement, not conversion.

Replacement is rarely a one-for-one equipment cost, especially on the roof.

A packaged rooftop unit (the box you see on a clubhouse, mid-rise, or amenity building) is tied to a roof curb, duct connections, electrical service, condensate drainage, and sometimes gas piping. The new unit may not sit on the old curb without an adapter. Getting it up there means a crane, street closures or staging, and a crew that can only work when the weather and the roof allow it. If the curb, the roof membrane around the curb, or the structure underneath is tired, those become part of the project too. Indoor coils and air handlers that were matched to R-22 often have to go at the same time. The new refrigerant is not compatible with the old coil.

None of that shows up in a catalog price for “a new AC.” It shows up in the bid, usually after the unit has already failed on the hottest week of the year.

There is a second wave already underway

R-22 is the urgent problem. R-410A, the refrigerant that replaced it in most systems built over the last two decades, is the next one to plan for. Under the federal AIM Act, U.S. production and consumption of HFCs — the family that includes R-410A — steps down sharply through 2036. EPA’s Technology Transitions Program also limits which HFCs can be used in new equipment. New residential and light-commercial air conditioners and heat pumps manufactured after the start of 2025 generally have to use a lower-global-warming-potential refrigerant, typically R-454B or R-32. Existing R-410A equipment can still be serviced. What you cannot count on is buying the same model in ten years, or assuming today’s replacement cost will still be the right number when that unit is due.

The details, including sector deadlines and later updates, are on EPA’s Technology Transitions page: https://www.epa.gov/hfcs/technology-transitions-program.

If your current study still treats those rooftop units as a straight equipment swap, or if the authors prepared it before the R-22 supply dried up and newer refrigerant rules took hold, the numbers the board relies on are probably light.

What this looks like in the funding plan

A useful reserve component is not “HVAC, miscellaneous.” It is specific enough that a board can see the exposure.

• List each major system: clubhouse RTUs, corridor or common-area units, pool-house equipment, elevator machine-room cooling, and any association-maintained unit serving a unit owner if your documents put that on the association.
• Note refrigerant type, age, tonnage, and whether the unit is a rooftop package or a split system. R-22 and rooftop access are the two flags that move cost.
• Use remaining useful life that reflects condition and refrigerant, not just the nameplate age. A 16-year-old R-22 rooftop unit with a documented leak history is not a 10-year asset.
• Price replacement with the extras: crane and rigging, curb adapter, roofing tie-in, electrical, controls, and permitted recovery of the old refrigerant. A placeholder based on equipment-only pricing will understate the project.
• Keep an eye on near-term operating costs. Repeated R-22 recharges are an operating expense, but they are also a signal that the reserve date should move up. Paying to refill a dying system is rarely cheaper than replacing it on your schedule.

Associations that inventory this now can phase the work: one building this year, the amenity wing the next, instead of three units failing in the same July. Associations that wait usually meet the crane invoice and have a special assessment in the same month.

A short checklist for the next board packet

Ask your HVAC contractor for a simple schedule: location, model, year, refrigerant, and last major repair. Have your reserve provider fold that into the component list and the cost opinion. With rooftop logistics called out separately from the equipment. If the current study still treats “convert the Freon unit” as a minor allowance, it is time to revise that line.

The phase-out did not make these systems illegal overnight. It made the cheap repair path disappear, and it made the replacement path more than a box on a curb. That is a reserve issue, and it is easier to fund on purpose than to explain after the fact.

If your current study still treats those rooftop units as a straight equipment swap, or if the authors prepared it before the R-22 supply dried up and newer refrigerant rules took hold, the numbers the board relies on are probably light. An updated reserve study is the cleanest way to reset them. Inventory what is on the roof, pricing the crane, curb, and conversion work. Then put a realistic date and dollar amount in the funding plan before a midsummer failure does it for you.

If that sounds like your community, ask us for a proposal. We will look at what you already have, tell you what an update should cover, and give the board a clear scope and fee before anyone commits. A short conversation now is a lot easier than a special assessment later.