I’m not a lawyer, but charging a known-leaky system with something flammable sounds like culpable negligence to me. This is why it is crucially important that R134a systems be properly evacuated (pumped down to boil off any moisture) and kept sealed. Over time, a credible middle ground emerged. The question instead is: Why is the system dead? I was recently selling a beautiful 1987 BMW 325is with cold R12-based A/C. Turn Off Stop/Start. You can then add ester oil that’ll work with either R12 or R134a. $16.98 $ 16. Through the medium of this article, we shall enlighten you about what is refrigerant, the importance of refrigerant, and also the kind of refrigerant used in AC nowadays. Whether it’s in your car or home, many air conditioners manufactured before 2003 use Freon as the refrigerant that cools the warm air. The compressor circulates refrigerant, usually R-134a, through the condenser and evaporator, which are connected via tubes and hoses. Test the pressure. We’ve been talking about air conditioning for a couple of weeks now, so if you’re still feeling the heat then it’s time to wrap up the series so you can get out to your garage and put what you’ve learned to good use. The U.S. government has placed restrictions on R22 and has issued the requirement that R22 refrigerant must be eliminated from use in cooling systems by the year 2020. Over the years the chemical structure of these refrigerant gases like R-12 or R-14 have been replaced in general usage in response to environmental regulations by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Now, in the case of big American cars, with their massively overbuilt A/C systems and huge condensers, R134a conversion often worked fine. His new book, Just Needs a Recharge: The Hack Mechanic™ Guide to Vintage Air Conditioning, is now available on Amazon. 1. Unfortunately, the widespread use of R12 appeared to be significantly degrading the Earth’s ozone layer, potentially causing a worldwide health crisis. A relatively small loss of refrigerant gas can reduce the efficiency of your air-conditioning system dramatically. R-404A is primarily used transport refrigeration. Locate the Low-Side Service Port. You can prevent this loss by having your system checked annually prior to the start of hot weather. 98. The sudden expansion of the gas chills the evaporator coils. R12 is known as the old-fashioned refrigerant and was used in cars pre-1944. An AC doesn’t “use up” refrigerant. Types of Refrigerant Used in AC Nowadays. However, the operating pressures are reportedly four times those of other refrigerants, so retrofit appears out of the question. 1. We carry R134a refrigerant, PAG46 oil, AC stop leak, AC system cleaner, and more. You can find many videos and web forum posts where people retrofit R152a into cars that originally had R12 and profess excellent results, but it is not approved by the EPA for retrofit applications, only new car applications. Selected for its low flammability and safety, as well as because it's kinder to the environment, almost every car built since 1994 is equipped with R134 refrigerant. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), including R12. Lastly, there are the flammable organic refrigerants (propane and its blends). The EPA warns about the growing use of an illegal central air refrigerant as the cooling season begins, from the editors of Consumer Reports. (To be clear, both cars also have a new rotary-style compressor and a big parallel-flow condenser and fan.). And with R134a costing only two bucks a can, converting to the new inexpensive refrigerant seemed the thing to do. You can recharge your A/C system with chicken soup (lousy refrigerant, by the way) and no black helicopters will come to your house, but in a world where people usually don’t hold onto their cars forever, R134a is still the best choice for retrofit applications. For example, while R12 itself is similar to the halon used in fire extinguishers, when R12 is mixed with mineral oil—the most commonly-used lubricant oil in R12 systems—and aerosolized and burned, it creates phosgene gas, which was used as a chemical agent in WWI. Note also that, unlike mineral oil, both PAG oil and ester oil are hygroscopic—that is, they absorb water. You should always attempt to verify the information with your vehicle manual or information provided on the underhood stick, sometimes also located on the top of the accumulator. But many European cars, such as the vintage BMWs I love, had A/C systems that never functioned all that well even when they were new and charged up with R12. Type #2: R134a -- The One That's (Probably) In Your Car Right Now. And it was safe—neither poisonous to breathe, nor flammable. Your car's air-conditioning system compresses refrigerant gases into a liquid, then releases the gas through a radiator-like evaporator coil. We’re most familiar with water, which we see as ice when it’s cold, liquid when it’s at room temperature, and steam when we boil it. Two types of refrigerant are used in automotive air conditioners. Each has its own cult following and requires its own EPA-approved charging fittings. Today, nearly all new vehicles offer air … The concern that the original R12 hoses would leak R134a like a screen door on a submarine appeared to be largely unfounded, as the insides of original hoses seemed to naturally become impregnated with a combination of refrigerant and oil that acted as a barrier. Tap Freon can and open valve to begin charging. The federal law also prohibits you from freeing the refrigerant in the air. The inside of an engine compartment, where the air-conditioning system operates, subjects the hoses and connections of the system to extremes of temperature and vibration, as well as contact with pollution, road grime, fuel, oil, and abrasive and corrosive substances. Anyone selling R12 is required to verify that the buyer has an EPA Section 609 certification to work with mobile vehicle air conditioning (MVAC) systems. In a properly sealed system the gas can continue being compressed and released over and over, so long as it doesn't leak out. So when someone says, “You can’t get R12 anymore,” or “It’s illegal to use R12,” those things simply aren’t true. So you should never need to recharge your air conditioner with more Freon—unless there’s a leak. Never. One essential element of climate control systems is the refrigerant. With new R12 no longer being manufactured, the market price soared to $100/pound. If you've need to make a major repair to your car air conditioner such as installing a new evaporator, compressor or condenser, then you can easily update to new refrigerant at the same time. R12 systems used mineral oil, but unfortunately mineral oil doesn’t dissolve in R134a. Automobile manufacturers began to transition to the non-ozone depleting refrigerant, HFC-134a, with 1992 model year vehicles. They may sound just like similar part numbers, but there are major differences between them. Since these days a can of R134a is about $15, the cost differential isn’t what it was in the panicked days of the mid-1990s. If an A/C system isn’t working, the root cause needs to be diagnosed, and the system needs to be fixed. Hell, it’s possible that not all of the original A/C components are even there anymore. Even if you’re OK with that, if the system needs work, any refrigerant in it will need to be recovered. To be absolutely clear, these refrigerants are not EPA-approved and shouldn’t be used. Most car owners simply accept the fact that the Freon™ in their automobile's air-conditioning system will have to be recharged periodically, as though this were an inevitability. Because of R1234yf’s mild flammability, BMW and Mercedes are now adopting R744. By the 1995 model year, all new vehicles sold in the United States with air conditioners used HFC-134a refrigerant. Initially, an invasive recipe was proposed: the system should be flushed to remove any traces of the old R12-specific mineral oil, the compressor and expansion valve should be replaced with R134a-specific versions to perform correctly, and the old hoses should be replaced with 134a-specific barrier hoses to forestall leakage. Piston Slap: When the Signal Acquisition Module (SAM) surrenders? The compressor should then be filled with R134a-specific oil (usually PAG oil) and the system evacuated and recharged. Posted on January 2, 2018 at 3:28 pm. Types of Car AC Refrigerants. The ozone layer is present 10 to 30 miles above the earth’s surface in the stratosphere where it protect us from harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation. For all of these reasons, the issues of conversion and performance need to be cleanly separated. R134a systems operate at higher discharge-side pressures than R12, which can cause compressor seals to leak. R134a refrigerant is common, but many new vehicles are now switching to 1234yf refrigerant. Car Air-Conditioning Mechanisms and the Role of Compressors Liquid (refrigerant) is cycled throughout a sealed air conditioning system in a repeated process of vaporization (evaporation), liquefaction, and re-vaporization. To test the pressure, turn the vehicle off and locate the low side pressure port. R12 and R134a are not the only game in town. Slightly less damaging to the ozone than R12, but the EPA has still mandated a phase out as a result of the Clean Air Act of 2010. You can look up the law yourself at www.epa.gov/mvac, but basically it boils down to three things. There are other EPA-approved refrigerants such as “Hot Shot” and “Freeze 12,” which you can find here. Clarifying note: Freon is a brand name of refrigerant that has come to be used generically to mean any refrigerant. I can tell you that R12 is some seriously great refrigerant; it gets both of these cars meat-locker cold almost from the instant the A/C is turned on. Here is how you will remove the refrigerant from the car’s AC. Locate the Low Pressure Side Refrigerant Fill Port 1. Hopefully I’ve properly conveyed that, if the A/C in your precious vintage car is long-dead, the question isn’t whether you choose between buying a few NOS cans of R12 and shooting them in (seriously don’t do that) or “converting” to R134a. R134a is not an ozone-destroying agent, but it is a greenhouse gas, and is illegal to vent as well. So the oil must be compatible with the refrigerant. Rob Siegel has been writing the column The Hack Mechanic™ for BMW CCA Roundel magazine for 30 years. A set of R134a-specific charging port adapters should be installed to eliminate the possibility of refrigerant cross-contamination. Freon is the brand name of a type of air-conditioning refrigerant gas manufactured by DuPont Chemicals. This is known to contribute to the greenhouse gas effect. That’s not true either. Actually, a car's air-conditioning system can run for years without recharging if properly maintained. The refrigerant is the fluid that is used in the car’s air conditioning system. The climate control fan blows air over the evaporator, and any heat in the air is absorbed by the refrigerant. The problem in all of this is the sentence “As long as the system is functioning correctly and not leaking.” Who in their right mind would take a tight, cold, R12-based system and convert it to less-efficient R134a? Which brings us to…. Because of this, in the early 1930s, a new refrigerant based on a chlorofluorocarbon (CFC), specifically dichlorodifluoromethane, was developed. There are different types of A/C Freon. What happens when the wrong refrigerant is charged to an AC unit? 5, Chip Foose reinvents the 1966 Ford Bronco with street-savvy style – Ep. Any old black o-rings should be replaced with R134a-compliant green o-rings. Second, as you’ll see below, if you have to perform work on an A/C system that has refrigerant in it, it is illegal to vent the refrigerant (to let it escape into the atmosphere); it must be captured and recovered. It became known as R12 or Freon. To be sure, you can check the unit itself for a label that specifies which type of coolant to add. But once you’re on that path, you can improve the system with a new compressor and parallel-flow condenser which, in most cases, will allow you to get good results with R134a. His book, "Going for the Green: An Insider's Guide to Raising Money With Charity Golf," was published in 2008. The molecule size of R134a is smaller than that of R12, so there was concern that R134a could leak out through the hoses and flare fittings that R12 systems used. In contrast, the most likely reason you’d consider recharging with an “alternative refrigerant” is because the refrigerant leaked out of your car and you’re trying to avoid doing a full-on A/C rejuvenation which includes finding the leak and properly changing refrigerants. Be as black-and-white as it changes from the car ’ s AC service port and give you a based! Your air conditioner R134a came a new HVAC right away small NOS cans of R12 widely. The Signal Acquisition Module ( SAM ) surrenders functional and leak-free can prevent this loss by having your system annually. 609 card can upright to only charge with gaseous Freon or selling R12 is illegal to vent well. 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