The European Regulation no 2037/2000 has banned manufacturing HCFC refrigerants from January 1st 2010, although its use is allowed up to 2015 if the fluids come from a recycling process. This situation creates the need for developing new working fluids to replace the HCFC in the refrigeration plants now in operation. Among all the HCFCs the R22 is the most widely used in a wide range of applications, especially in air conditioning. This work presents an on-site experimental study of the R22 replacement by two possible substitutes, the HFC-417A and the HFC-422D, in a water chiller in which the energy performance was evaluated. This chiller is part of the centralized HVAC system of a lecture room building at the Jaume 1 University of Castellon, Spain. This communication compares and analyses main operation parameters of the chiller when operating with each refrigerant in real conditions. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.