is it OK to buy a central system that uses R22 freon?

[Robert Green]

That's not what I've been told. On the DuPont site on the web I found this:

R-410A is designed for new equipment only, due to its much higher cooling capacity and operating pressure. R-410A is a higher-pressure refrigerant than R-22 and should be used only in equipment specifically designed for R-410A . . .working with R-410A is not much different than any other refrigerant. However, R-410A does have higher pressure and can become combustible when mixed with air . . . The vapor pressure of R-410A (at 70° F) at 201 psig is higher than R-22 at

136 psig . . . Dave Bateman is a senior technical service engineer for DuPont Refrigerants and has been providing customer technical support for DuPont and Suva refrigerants for the past 17 years. For more information, send e-mail to [e-mail] or visit Dupont makes the stuff, and I've always heard that the new stuff ran at higher pressures, but there's been more than one occasion where everything I knew had changed out from under me. Got any citations or further information about why the OP was wrong about what he said? Or is this a Clintonesque 'what is the meaning of "is"' sort of word game?

-- Bobby G.

[Steve Barker]

Well I stand corrected on that issue. I apparently mis-understood my HVAC man when he said what ever it was he said. Fine. I could care less anyway. I have 3 brand new r-22 systems and 2 brand new 410a systems and they all cool the houses they're attached to. That's all that matters.