Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 13:01:10 -0500
Reply-To: John Rodgers <jh_rodgers@BELLSOUTH.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: John Rodgers <jh_rodgers@BELLSOUTH.NET>
Subject: Re: AC concerns
In-Reply-To: <012401c45401$372b46a0$6401a8c0@dell>
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To me. here is the nitty gritty of the AC issue.
From the EPA WEB site:
*May hydrocarbon refrigerants be used to replace CFC
<http://www.epa.gov/ozone/defns.html#cfc>-12, commonly referred to as
"FreonŽ ," in cars?*
_ No. It is illegal_ to use hydrocarbon refrigerants like HC-12aŽ and
DURACOOL 12aŽ as substitutes for CFC-12 in automobile or truck air
conditioning _under any circumstances_.
Guys, here we get into the importance of grammer and sentence structure.....
*** Note the part**** ......."It is is illegal under any circumstances."
In other words, if it ain't HFC-134a, then you can't use it!!!!
But then comes this:
From the EPA WEB site:
*Is it legal to replace HFC-134a in a motor vehicle with hydrocarbon
refrigerants such as DURACOOL 12aŽ and HC-12aŽ?*
_ In certain circumstances_, the replacement of HFC-134a in a motor
vehicle with hydrocarbon refrigerants might be permitted. At a minimum,
in order to avoid violating the Clean Air Act, the motor vehicle A/C
system must have either been _originally designed for use with HFC-134a
refrigerant_, or _must have been previously retrofitted from CFC-12 to
HFC-134a refrigerant_, AND no sham retrofit must have occurred to
convert the system to the hydrocarbon refrigerant. In order to avoid
violating other laws, the replacement of the refrigerant must not
violate any state or local prohibition on the use of flammable
refrigerants in motor vehicle A/C systems.
It appears that something other than HFC-134a can be used, provided the
system is fully converted first to an HFC-134a system and it's use does
not violate any other laws. In such case then a different approved
refrigerant is used.
I think it's clear that if you use anything other than HFC-134a, you
begin to stretch the limits, and you may be on your own.
After all the concerns about Ozone depletion being caused by CFC 12 and
the like, everyone jumped on the bandwagon for 134a and it became the
industry standard for autos anyway. Now they have discovered toxicity
issues with 134a and it has created a new set of problems to have to be
dealt with. Who knows what will or will not be approved in the future.
I have decided to stay with CFC-12 for my Vanagon, since it's
grandfathered in. Forces me to keep my AC maintenance up to snuff.
John Rodgers
88 GL Driver
Glen A. Smith wrote:
>With the weather heating up, everyone is talking about their AC systems. In
>particular R-12 to R-134a conversions. What's the hub-bub! Use a
>refrigerant called Freeze-12! This stuff is legal, is a direct replacement
>for R-12, requires no change of any part of your R-12 system, is much
>cheaper than R-12, cools better than R-12, and you don't need as much to
>replace your R-12 charge!
>
>
>
