r-12 to r-134a

[Sawbladz]

I'm curious as to how all of you are "draining" your AC system. Are you using a vacuum pump to evacuate the system into a proper container or are you just removing a valve and letting it out? There is a reason that a licence is required to work with this stuff, it is very harmful to the atmosphere and just intentionally dumping however many ounces into the atmosphere is beyond me.

JJ: I'm interested to see what happens with R12 in the states. In Canada it is being completely phased out and replaced by other, more safe, gases. I beleive it is considered illegal to put it into a system and when it is recovered from an existing system we are not allowed to hold onto it.

**NOTE**. I don't have a licence. My father has been licenced as a refigeration tech for about 30 years and does primarily household and commercial refigeration...no cars. I have 3 summers of working there and have merely picked up stuff as I went along.

 

[tekdeus]

What about R12a? It is supposed to be an alternative to R12 that works with the existing system and oil.

 

[jetjock]

Yeah, I know the R12 nut is much tougher to crack in Canada and Europe. We're lucky it's still allowed here.

Here all refrigerants must be recovered and the machine must be dedicated to the refrigerant being recovered. It's why most shops won't work on cars that have other than CFC 12 of HFC 134a installed. They aren't going to contaminate either their machines or their stash of recovered refrigerant, which is worth some nice coin. We won't even go into sealants. If you cheap out and dump a sealant into your system you'd better be prepared to have most shops refuse to work on your car. Fwiw for home use you can make a recovery system out of an old refrigerator compressor and an empty refrigerant tank.

Btw, those in The People's Republik of Kalifornia might be interested in this. The state is poised to ban retail sale of 134a:

http://tinyurl.com/38cfjb

If you think that's stupid try this: 98% of those "canned air" dusters you can buy are composed of guess what? R134a. Same with all those canned baster air horns people buy for sports events and boating use. Millions of those things are squirted into the air every year but the gum'mint doesn't care. What a country huh? Plus they're cheaper to buy than "real" 134a. I know more than a few MVAC systems running perfectly off the stuff. Buy a $5 side tapper to fit the cans and be happy. You didn't hear this from me though