There are many types of refrigerants available in the market. Each refrigerant has other qualities and you should definitely know what every refrigerant offers.
The main work of every refrigerant is to absorb the heat from the surroundings and make the temperature cooler whereas, the compressor helps to change the state of the refrigerant from liquid to gas or gas to liquid.
Before we deep dive into comparison, you should know what the refrigerants are and how refrigerants work in air conditioners and refrigerators.
| Refrigerants | Ozone Depletion Potential | Global Warming Potential |
| R32 | 0 | 675 |
| R410A | 0 | 2088 |
| R22 | Medium | 1810 |
| R290 | 0 | 3 |
| R600 A | 0 | 3 |
What is a Refrigerant in appliances?
A refrigerant helps to provide cool air or cold temperatures inside appliances like air conditioners and refrigerators. Generally, these are the fluids present inside the appliance and it changes from liquid to gas or gas to liquid state in every refrigeration cycle.
Refrigerants like R32, R410A, R22 & R290 have different boiling temperatures. Unlike water, they have a shorter boiling time which helps to make cool air by condensing the water vapor of the liquid.
R32 Refrigerant
This refrigerant is mostly recommended by the big refrigerators and air conditioner brands and that is the reason it is very popular as well.
But this refrigerant does not cause ozone layer depletion and has a global warming potential of 675. But the price of this refrigerant is very less and it also offers safety because it is almost inflammable in normal room temperatures.
This refrigerant is more efficient in cooling and has Hydrofluorocarbons refrigerant. Hence, this is a very good refrigerant in performance plus it is also environment friendly with low maintenance cost.
R410A Refrigerant
This is a very similar refrigerant to R32 because it has the same Hydrofluorocarbons refrigerant. But the major drawback of this refrigerant is that it is not very environment friendly when you compare it with R32.
R410 is a combination of two gases one is R32 and R125. Because it has two gases it is very hard to refill the gas in the appliance and it needs to go to the mechanic shop for refilling.
Hence, the maintenance cost of this refrigerant is very high but is anyway better than R22 than in terms of all the prospects like safety, global warming, cost and etc.
But R32 is way ahead in this league when you compare it with R410A. Although, many air conditioners and refrigerator manufacturers still using this refrigerant all over the globe.
R22 Refrigerant
This refrigerant is being used by appliance makers for several decades. It is a very old refrigerant so it has many flaws as compared to other refrigerants present in the market.
This refrigerant is now becoming obsolete and it is also very much banned in most of the countries globally. Because it leads to Ozone layer depletion and has a very high GWP.
In India, many appliances manufacturers are still using this refrigerant because the initial cost of this refrigerant is very low thus if you are buying a budget appliance you need to make sure that it does not have R22.
Because it has a very high maintenance cost and it is not good for the environment as well.
R290 & R600A Refrigerant
This refrigerant is the latest refrigerant and you might see this refrigerant present inside the best cooling appliances available in the market.
The initial cost of this refrigerant is very high so you will not able to find these refrigerants in low-medium budget products. So it ends up increasing the total end price of a product.
This refrigerant is environmentally friendly as it has very low GWP and 0 ozone layer depliton. The major drawback of this refrigerant is it has highly flammable properties.
But it can easily be compared with the r32 refrigerant. Although, this refrigerant is superior to any other refrigerant available in the market in terms of environmental friendliness and efficiency.
Conclusion
There are different types of refrigerants available in the market. You should buy the appliance with a good refrigerant which has less maintenance cost with a less harmful effect on the environment.
R22 is our least recommendation but R32 & R290 are the highest recommendations depending upon the model of the appliance you are buying.