This paper experimentally investigated the system performance of a split-type air conditioner matching with different coiled adiabatic capillary tubes for HCFC22 and HC290. Experiments were carried out in a room-type calorimeter. The results have shown that (1) similar cooling effects can be achieved by matching various capillary tubes of different inner diameters; (2) parallel capillary tubes presented better system performance and flow stability with weaker inlet pressure fluctuations than the single capillary tube; (3) with the coil diameter of the capillary tube increasing from 40 mm to 120 mm, the mass flow rate tended to increase slightly. But the cooling capacity, input power and energy efficiency ratio (EER) did not show evident tendency of change; (4) the refrigerant charge and mass flow rate for HC290 were only 44% and 47% of that for HCFC22, respectively, due to the much lower density. And HC290 had 4.7-6.7% lower cooling capacity and 12.1-12.3% lower input power with respect to HCFC22. However, the EER of HC290 can be 8.5% higher than that of HCFC22, which exhibits the advantage of using HC290. In addition, the experimental uncertainties were analyzed and some application concerns of HC290 were discussed. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.