A2L/Crosswalk
A2L/Crosswalk

R-410A: what is banned and what is not

The three dates people mix up — manufacture, installation and service — with the federal rule behind each one.

Checked against the sources below on October 7, 2026

The short answer

R-410A is not banned, and parts for it are still made. What the federal rule stops is installing a new system that uses a refrigerant with a GWP of 700 or more — R-410A is 2,088. Since January 1, 2025 a new residential system can use R-410A only if every specified component was made or imported before that date. Existing systems can be serviced and repaired.

The dates, one by one

DateWhat the rule saysWhere
Jan 1, 2025No new residential or light commercial air-conditioning or heat pump system with a GWP of 700 or more may be installed — except where all specified components were manufactured or imported before January 1, 2025.§84.54(c)(1)
Jan 1, 2025No manufacture or import of self-contained residential and light commercial products (factory-sealed units) with a GWP of 700 or more.§84.54(a)(1)
Jan 1, 2026The installation deadline that used to apply to that pre-2025 stock. Removed by EPA’s final rule of May 26, 2026, effective July 27, 2026. There is now no federal installation date for systems built entirely from pre-2025 components.91 FR 31284
Jan 1, 2026The same 700 limit reaches variable refrigerant flow systems. VRF built from pre-2026 components may be installed before January 1, 2027.§84.54(c)(2)
Jan 1, 2028The self-contained products above can no longer be sold or distributed — three years after the January 1, 2025 date.§84.54(b)
“Specified components” are condensing units, condensers, compressors, evaporator units and evaporators (40 CFR 84.52).
The AIM Act HFC phasedown and the R-410A datesA staircase of HFC allowances as a percent of the 2011 to 2013 baseline: 90 percent in 2022 and 2023, 60 percent from 2024 to 2028, 30 percent from 2029 to 2033, 20 percent in 2034 and 2035, 15 percent from 2036. Two flags: January 1, 2025, new R-410A residential systems may only be installed from components made or imported before that date; and the January 1, 2026 installation deadline, struck through because EPA removed it in May 2026.AIM ACT HFC PHASEDOWNproduction and consumption allowances, % of the 2011–2013 baseline100%60%30%15%20202022202420292034203690%60%30%20%15%Jan 1, 2025new R-410A systems: only frompre-2025 componentsJan 1, 2026 install deadlineremoved by EPA final rule,May 26, 2026 (effective Jul 27)states may set their own (e.g. New York)R-410A in 2026, in three facts that get mixed up:1. New R-410A systems: only where every specified component was made or imported before Jan 1, 2025.2. That stock has no federal install deadline — the 2026 date is gone (check your state; New York kept its own).3. Installed R-410A equipment can be serviced: replacement components are still made, the refrigerant is rationed.
Two different things on one chart. The staircase is the national HFC phasedown — it rations the refrigerant. The flags are the equipment rule — it decides what can go into a new system.

What is still allowed

  • Servicing and repairing installed R-410A equipment. The rule is about new systems, not the ones already running.
  • Making and selling replacement components. The prohibitions do not apply to components. A component meant for a refrigerant above the limit must carry a label reading “For servicing existing equipment only”.
  • Replacing a failed outdoor unit on an existing system. EPA’s 2026 rule says it plainly: replacing a condensing unit on an existing system is not the installation of a new system.
  • Installing a new system from pre-2025 stock — every specified component, not just the outdoor unit.

What counts as a “new installation”

The rule defines it, and the second line is the one that surprises people:

  1. Assembling a system for the first time from used or new components.
  2. Increasing the cooling capacity of an existing system. (The 15% allowance in the rule is for supermarket systems only.)
  3. Replacing 75% or more of the evaporators and 100% of the compressor racks, condensers and connected evaporator loads of an existing system.

Still prohibited

A new R-410A system using components made or imported after January 1, 2025 — including equipment manufactured abroad before that date but imported after it.

States can be stricter

New York did not follow EPA’s 2026 change. Its regulation, 6 NYCRR Part 494, prohibits installing new residential air-conditioning systems above 700 GWP from January 1, 2026, and the state says federal changes are not automatically incorporated. California and Washington also regulate HFCs in new equipment under their own rules. Check the state agency before relying on the federal date.

The label on every new system

A new system must be labeled with its refrigerant and its date of manufacture. For a field-charged system that date is the date of first charge, and the label is completed when the system is first charged.

Finding what goes in instead

The lookup maps every R-410A outdoor unit in the ENERGY STAR list to ranked A2L candidates of the same type and within 15% of its capacity. Type the model you are pulling →Type the model you are pulling →

Sources

Federal rules change. This page reports what the sources said on the date above; the source is the authority, and state or local rules can be stricter. It is reference material, not legal advice and not installation guidance.