The dynamic performance characteristics of the air source heat pump (ASHP) with refrigerants R22 and R407C during frosting and defrosting are studied. The results show that both refrigerant systems have similar performance characteristics, except that the performance of the R407C system deteriorated faster than that of the R22 system under frosting, and the performance of the R407C system attains its steady state faster than that of the R22 system after defrosting. R407C refrigerant can be used in either existing systems or in new systems that were originally designed for R22. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.