It is a crap shoot either way. How long will your indoor coil last? I had one Armstrong coil that was 42 years old when replaced this Summer- and have no reason to believe that it was failed. For a 5 year old system, I would replace the outdoor unit and put filters on the refrigerant lines. HVAC is not my trade, I am just a consumer.

bus driving is his trade but he's right , go with the r-22 and keep it the way it is.

Thanks! If I replace the broken unit with another r22 will I be able to get freon in the future? How much longer will my 3.0 unit keep working? What if R22 isn't available in a year or so when it breaks? Do I bite the bullet now and switch the broken one to 410 and assume the other will last only a few more years and switch that one then. I have paid $8000 since 2005 on this equipment. Do I spend another $2500 on an R22 unit and hope to get 5 years out of it?

R-22 supposedly will be available until 2020- someone correct me if this is wrong. I can by no means assure you that electricity (I do know a little about that) will be available in 2020 to operate your unit, irrespective of the refrigerant.

Here is a link that might be useful: R-22

Bus Driver - Thank you! Excellent info regarding R22. I am leaning towards getting another R22 unit.

Also would add to other lurkers out there that the a main reason in your situations the R22 makes sense is that you have a 12 SEER coil.

If you had an older systems with a 10 SEER or lower coil, you would risk freezing up the coil if you replaced with a new "dry" R22 system. That is because the new systems do use the old refrigerant, but they still have to meet current SEER efficiencies.

Both of my air handlers installed in 11/09 are 13 seer. Not sure what the old ones were. I now know they should match. Maybe this is why the compressor on the 12 seer outside unit only lasted for just over 5 years.

I am not sure that was the cause of the failure. My Trane XR-12 (From memory, I did not go outside to look) outside units are Seer 11, 12 or 13 depending on the coil and other indoor equipment used.