Freon is a name that you often hear tossed around with regard to refrigerators and air conditioners, and you likely know it’s part of the cooling system. But there’s more to Freon than meets the general public’s eye.

“Freon” is a brand name. It is used for a group of coolants that include a gas called R-22. These coolants circulate through your air conditioner’s system, undergoing a series of temperature changes that convert the gaseous coolant to liquid and back again. During this process, the hot air that’s drawn into your air conditioning system is cooled and sent back out into your home.

The main issue with Freon is that, as effective as it is, it’s also a chlorofluorocarbon, or a CFC — this is one of those things that has been destroying the ozone layer, and governments have been working to phase out and ban CFCs from consumer products. In fact, new air conditioners are now made with coolants that are more environmentally friendly, such as R-410A, also called Puron. You can still get Freon for repairs right now, but the coolant will become harder to get as time goes on.

If your old Freon-based air conditioner is not working that well and needs repair, you can still have it repaired. However, you may want to consider upgrading to a new air conditioner that uses Puron or another eco-friendly coolant. In the long run, that will make repairs a lot easier to handle, and your home cooling system won’t be pumping out anything that could harm the environment.