10 min read · Last updated September 28, 2026
- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) banned new production and import of R-22 (also called HCFC-22, a hydrochlorofluorocarbon refrigerant) as of January 1, 2020. Only recycled or reclaimed R-22 can service existing systems now, and that supply is finite and getting harder to find.
- EPA’s own guidance says a broken R-22 outdoor unit cannot simply be paired with an R-410A replacement, because the old indoor coil is not compatible. In that situation, EPA states, “the whole system would need to be replaced.”
- Choice Home Warranty’s published homeowner agreement caps air conditioning and heating claims at $3,000 per covered item per year and explicitly excludes costs “due to the incompatibility of the existing equipment with the Replacement system,” naming refrigerant requirements directly.
- American Home Shield caps refrigerant reimbursement at $10 per pound on its Silver and Gold plans, and even its top-tier Platinum plan limits code-violation and modification costs to $1,000 per contract term.
A home warranty that approves a failed air conditioning (AC) compressor claim will usually pay for the compressor itself. What it typically will not pay for is the extra part and labor cost of making that compressor’s refrigerant work with the rest of an older system, a gap that the federal R-22 phaseout and the 2025 low-global-warming-potential refrigerant rule have made far more common than most homeowners expect.
In this article
- Why a covered compressor claim can still leave a mismatched system
- What two real home warranty contracts say about the fix
- The math: what a covered claim still leaves you owing
- How to read your own contract before you renew or file a claim
- Frequently asked questions
Denise Alvarez’s home warranty approved her failed AC compressor claim within a day and paid the full $2,600 the contractor billed for a new, compatible compressor on her three-ton heat pump. Nine days later, a second invoice arrived: $1,550 to replace the indoor evaporator coil, because the compressor her warranty paid for runs on a refrigerant her system’s original 2009 coil was never built to handle. Her plan would not pay any of it.
Why a covered compressor claim can still leave a mismatched system
The gap in Denise’s second invoice is not a warranty company inventing an excuse. It is federal refrigerant policy working as designed, just not in her favor.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the federal agency regulating refrigerants under the Clean Air Act, banned all new domestic production and import of R-22 (also called HCFC-22, a hydrochlorofluorocarbon), the refrigerant used in most air conditioners and heat pumps built before the mid-2000s, starting January 1, 2020. Servicing an existing R-22 system did not become illegal. What changed is the supply: “After 2020, only recycled, reclaimed, or previously produced HCFC-22 can be used to service existing equipment,” EPA states on its own phaseout guidance page. A leaking system can still be recharged, but only from a finite, aging stock of reclaimed refrigerant, not from newly manufactured supply.
The real cost problem shows up the moment the compressor, not just the refrigerant charge, fails. EPA vets every substitute refrigerant through its own Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) Program, a list of refrigerants approved for specific equipment types, and its guidance answers the exact question a technician faces on a job like Denise’s: “Can I replace a broken R-22 outdoor condensing unit with an R-410A condensing unit? No. In this situation the R-22 indoor coil would not be compatible with R-410A due to the difference in pressures. R-410A is also not listed as acceptable by the SNAP Program as a retrofit for R-22 systems. Therefore, the whole system would need to be replaced…” A compressor swap alone is not just an incomplete repair; it is a pairing EPA’s own program does not allow.
Replacing the whole system now runs into a second, newer rule. Under the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2020 (AIM Act), the federal law authorizing a 15-year phasedown of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), EPA capped the global warming potential (GWP), a measure of how much a refrigerant traps heat compared with carbon dioxide, for new residential air conditioners and heat pumps at 700, effective January 1, 2025. R-410A’s GWP sits above that limit, so manufacturers have shifted new equipment to lower-GWP substitutes such as R-32 and R-454B. EPA’s own program materials note that these newer refrigerants are “mildly flammable” and cannot simply be dropped into equipment that was not designed for them. A same-day fix that used to mean “swap the compressor” now often means “replace a system built around a refrigerant that is itself being phased down.”
What two real home warranty contracts say about the fix
Every major home warranty contract carries some version of a “modification” or “incompatible equipment” exclusion. It is standard industry language, not a red flag on one company, and detailed enough to check against your own plan in a few minutes.
Choice Home Warranty’s own homeowners user agreement states plainly: “We are not responsible for upgrades, modifications, components, parts, or equipment required due to the incompatibility of the existing equipment with the Replacement system… including, but not limited to, differences in technology, refrigerant requirements, or efficiency as mandated by federal, state, or local governments.” The same agreement separately excludes “the required Replacement of air handlers when Replacing condensers, and condensers when Replacing air handlers,” and states the company is “not responsible for service to meet current building or zoning code requirements or to correct for code violations” and, in a separate clause, “not responsible for the cost to obtain permits.”
American Home Shield’s published sample contract takes a different approach: instead of a flat exclusion, it caps the dollar amount. Its ShieldSilver and ShieldGold plans pay “up to $10 per pound per occurrence for refrigerant,” with the customer responsible for any cost above that. Only its top-tier ShieldPlatinum plan removes that refrigerant cap, and even Platinum’s own “coverage boost” for code violations, permits, and required system modifications is capped at $1,000 total per contract term.
| Factor | American Home Shield | Choice Home Warranty |
|---|---|---|
| Per-item or per-pound cap on AC/heating claims | Refrigerant capped at $10 per pound per occurrence on ShieldSilver and ShieldGold; refrigerant limit removed only on ShieldPlatinum | $3,000 maximum liability per 12-month period for each covered item |
| Code violations and permit costs | ShieldPlatinum only: up to $1,000 per contract term for code violations, permits, and required duct, plenum, electrical, or plumbing modifications | Explicitly excluded: “not responsible for service to meet current building or zoning code requirements or to correct for code violations” and “not responsible for the cost to obtain permits” |
| Mismatched or incompatible equipment after a refrigerant change | Not addressed as a separate “coverage boost”; falls under the plan’s standard AC/heating limitations | Explicitly excluded: “not responsible for upgrades, modifications… required due to the incompatibility of the existing equipment… including… refrigerant requirements… mandated by federal, state, or local governments” |
| Condenser-and-coil pairing | Covers some “necessary or required” efficiency upgrades, except costs tied to plenums and refrigerant line sets | Explicitly excluded: “the required Replacement of air handlers when Replacing condensers, and condensers when Replacing air handlers” |
| Best for | A homeowner who buys the top-tier plan specifically for the refrigerant and modification allowances | A homeowner who wants a flat per-item dollar cap but budgets separately for any mismatch repair |
The math: what a covered claim still leaves you owing
Run Denise’s numbers the way her contract actually reads them, not the way a sales page describes “complete AC coverage.”
Her plan, a Choice Home Warranty contract, caps its liability at $3,000 per covered item, per 12-month period, for access, diagnosis, and repair or replacement. The compatible replacement compressor for her three-ton system billed at $2,600, comfortably under that cap. For reference, replacement-cost data from This Old House puts materials and installation for a three-ton condenser at $1,400 to $3,100, so her bill sits inside the normal range. Her plan paid the full $2,600.
The evaporator coil her system needed to actually run on the new compressor’s refrigerant billed separately, at $1,550, the average This Old House reports for a three-ton evaporator coil (a range of $700 to $2,350 depending on coil type). Her contract excludes this cost twice over: once as a modification “required due to the incompatibility of the existing equipment,” and again under the specific condenser-and-coil clause that names this exact pairing.
Total invoice: $4,150. Warranty payment: $2,600. Denise’s out-of-pocket gap: $1,550, due in full, because her plan carries no per-pound refrigerant allowance or code/modification coverage boost to absorb any part of it.
How to read your own contract before you renew or file a claim
Do three things before renewing a home warranty on a system older than 15 years, or before filing a claim.
Find your plan’s exclusion list and search it for the words “incompatibility,” “mismatched,” “modification,” and “code.” This language is standard across providers, and the dollar consequence is real even when the marketing page never mentions it.
Ask the technician one direct question before any repair begins: does the replacement part use the same refrigerant as the rest of the system? If the answer is no, get the second cost, coil, line set, or full system, in writing before you approve the covered repair. Keep a real, dated maintenance schedule for the AC and heating system too; a mismatch claim still has to clear the same wear-and-tear review as any other repair.
If your system still runs on R-22, budget as though a full system replacement is the realistic outcome of the next major failure, not the exception. A home warranty extends the life of a system that is still whole. It was not built to absorb the cost of a federally mandated refrigerant transition, and no plan reviewed here covers that gap in full. Thin documentation alone can also get an approved-sounding claim denied, a separate trap worth checking before you assume the compressor payout is the only thing at risk.
Frequently asked questions
Does a home warranty cover replacing an old R-22 air conditioner? Most home warranty plans cover repairing or replacing a failed component of a covered system, including one still running on R-22. What they typically exclude is the added cost of making a replacement part compatible with older equipment, which becomes an issue once a compressor needs replacing on an R-22 system.
Why won’t my home warranty pay to replace the evaporator coil too? Because most contracts specifically exclude costs tied to equipment incompatibility, even on a claim the plan otherwise approved. Choice Home Warranty’s own agreement excludes “the required Replacement of air handlers when Replacing condensers,” and similar language appears across the industry, not as a rare exception.
Can a technician just add R-22 refrigerant to my leaking system instead of replacing anything? Often, yes. EPA confirms recycled and reclaimed R-22 can still legally service existing equipment, so a straightforward leak repair and recharge remains possible. The bigger cost problem starts when the compressor itself fails, not when the system only needs a refrigerant top-off.
What is the real dollar cap on refrigerant coverage? It varies by plan. American Home Shield’s ShieldSilver and ShieldGold plans cap refrigerant reimbursement at $10 per pound, with the homeowner covering anything above that; only its ShieldPlatinum plan removes the cap. Choice Home Warranty folds refrigerant into its $3,000-per-item annual limit instead of a per-pound figure.
Should I upgrade to a higher-tier home warranty plan before my AC gets older? If your system still runs on R-22 or is approaching 15 years old, a plan with a refrigerant or code and modification allowance, even a capped one, is worth pricing against the alternative. Compare that added premium to a realistic mismatch bill before you renew, not after a claim.
What should I search for in my own contract before renewing? Search your plan document for “incompatibility,” “mismatched,” “modification,” and “code.” Those sections determine whether a compressor claim leaves you with a small gap or a four-figure one, and they rarely appear in the plan’s marketing summary or coverage highlights page.