R32 Refrigerant: What Perth Homeowners Need to Know

Australia is quietly changing the gas inside your air conditioner. Since mid 2024, new small split systems sold here can no longer use the old high global warming potential gases, and from 1 January 2026 the amount of those older gases allowed into the country dropped again, this time by 19 per cent. For most Perth homes the change arrives under a name you may have seen on a sticker on your outdoor unit: R32 refrigerant.

None of this means your current system is suddenly illegal or has to be replaced. It does change what happens the next time your system needs a service, a regas or a replacement, and with Perth’s cooling season only weeks away, late winter is the right time to understand it. Here is the plain English version from our team, who handle this gas every week under a refrigerant handling licence.

What is R32 refrigerant?

Refrigerant is the working fluid inside every split, ducted and reverse cycle air conditioner. It absorbs heat from the air inside your home and releases it outside (or the reverse in winter). Your system does not burn it or use it up; it circulates in a sealed loop, which is why a healthy system should never need topping up.

R32 refrigerant is the gas that has taken over from the older R410A in new systems. The reason is climate impact. Every refrigerant has a global warming potential, or GWP, a score of how much heat the gas traps compared with carbon dioxide if it escapes. According to the Australian Refrigeration Council, R410A scores 2,088 while R32 scores 675, roughly a third of the old figure. R32 systems also went from effectively zero per cent of the Australian market in 2013 to 71 per cent of new split systems by 2019, so if your unit was installed in the last five or six years, there is a good chance it already runs R32 refrigerant.

R32 vs R410A: the rules that changed

Two pieces of regulation sit behind the changeover, and both are worth knowing about before you service or replace a system.

The 2024 ban on high GWP small air conditioners

From 1 July 2024 it became illegal to import or manufacture small air conditioning equipment in Australia that uses an air conditioner refrigerant with a GWP above 750, where the unit holds 2.6 kg of gas or less, as reported by HVAC&R News and confirmed in Australian Border Force Customs Notice 2024/24. That covers the wall mounted split systems, window units and portables most of us own. R410A, at a GWP of 2,088, is well over the line; R32 refrigerant, at 675, sits under it. In practice the r32 vs r410a question has been settled for new equipment: every new small split sold in Australia now runs R32 or something cleaner. Stock built before the deadline could still be sold, and larger ducted equipment was excluded from this particular ban, but the direction is one way.

The national phase-down of the old gases

Separately, Australia has been shrinking the total amount of high GWP refrigerant allowed into the country every year since 2018, under the national HFC phase-down. Refrigerants Australia explains that the quota steps down every couple of years, and industry supplier Beijer Ref reports the latest step landed on 1 January 2026: a further 19 per cent cut, taking the 2026 to 2027 quota to 4.25 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, nearly half the original baseline. By 2036 the quota falls to 15 per cent of where it started, per Pac Gas. Less R410A comes into the country each step, which is why supply of the older gas is tightening while R32 refrigerant is expected to stay readily available for service work.

What this means for your existing air conditioner

The most important fact in all of this: nothing forces you to retire a working system. As Pac Gas puts it, service work on existing systems can continue with the original refrigerant for the life of the equipment. Your R410A split or ducted system can be legally serviced, repaired and regassed for as long as the gas is available to buy, and systems already running R32 refrigerant face no supply question at all. The phase-down works on imports, not on the unit in your backyard.

If your system runs on R410A

Keep running it, but go in with clear eyes. Supply of R410A is expected to stay constrained through 2026 and beyond as the quota tightens, so an air conditioner regas on an older system is becoming a bigger decision than it used to be. Two things follow from that:

• A regas is a repair, not maintenance. Refrigerant lives in a sealed circuit. If your system is low on gas, it has a leak, and topping it up without finding the leak means paying to lose the same gas twice. A proper air conditioner regas starts with leak detection and repair, then recharging to the manufacturer’s specification.
• On an ageing system, a major leak is a fork in the road. In our experience, when a unit well into its second decade loses its charge, it is worth weighing repair against replacement before recharging, because a new R32 refrigerant system brings better efficiency and a gas with a long supply future. A licensed technician can give you an honest read on which way the numbers point for your unit.

One thing you should never do is attempt a DIY regas. R32 refrigerant is classified A2L, meaning mildly flammable, and in Australia anyone handling refrigerant needs a refrigerant handling licence issued through the Australian Refrigeration Council scheme. Our technicians carry those licences; it is the legal baseline for this work, not a bonus.

Evaporative systems sit outside all of this

Perth’s other favourite, evaporative air conditioning, uses water and airflow rather than refrigerant, so the phase-down does not touch it. If you run an evap system, your pre-summer job is a pad and pump service, not a gas check.

Getting ready for Perth’s cooling season

Late August and September are the smart window to book an air conditioning service Perth-wide. The first proper hot spell always brings a rush of breakdown calls, and the systems that fail are almost always the ones that sat untouched since autumn. A pre-season air conditioning service typically covers:

• Cleaning or replacing return air filters, the single biggest factor in performance
• Checking refrigerant pressures and inspecting the sealed circuit for leaks
• Testing electrical connections, capacitors and safety switches
• Clearing the condensate drain and checking the outdoor coil
• Confirming heating and cooling modes both hit their target temperatures

A serviced system cools faster, draws less power and is far less likely to fail on a 40 degree day. And if your system is older, a spring service is exactly when a technician can tell you whether it runs R32 refrigerant or the older R410A, and how the phase-down affects your repair options, before summer forces the decision.

Thinking about a new system?

If this is the year you upgrade, the refrigerant question is already answered for you: new split system air conditioners and ducted reverse cycle systems sold in Australia run R32 refrigerant, so a system bought today is on the right side of the rules for its whole working life. What still needs local judgement is sizing, zoning and placement for Perth conditions, which is where a licensed installer earns their keep.

Joondalup Heating & Cooling installs and services air conditioning right across Perth, north and south of the river and up to the Perth Hills, with licensed technicians across split, ducted, evaporative and reverse cycle systems. If you would like your system checked, regassed the right way or replaced before the heat arrives, get in touch with our team and we will have you ready for summer.