Date: Sat, 19 Jun 2010 18:52:49 -0500
Reply-To: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Subject: Re: Freeze-12 and other A/C supplies
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTikhGQBFJm3NlYjHAXe-k6zSVM05a-Wg1qffYGGd@mail.gmail.com>
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Not to raise another big long lengthy debate on R134a vs Freeze 12 - and
all the rules and tech stuff not withstanding - from what I can digest
from it all is that so far as operation goes - use of R134a introduces a
much greater head pressure to the system than does Freeze 12 - which
approximates the old R12 - and this higher R134a head pressure is what
sends Vanagon era compressors to early graves. Other than that - they
appear to cool about the same.
Just my $0.02 from reading about this subject.
John Rodgers
Clayartist and Moldmaker
88'GL VW Bus Driver
Chelsea, AL
Http://www.moldhaus.com
On 6/19/2010 6:20 PM, Loren Busch wrote:
> RE: Substitutes for R12
> This subject was explored in every possible way a few years ago on this
> list. Being to lazy to bother to look for the thread or the notes I kept at
> the time I'll try to summarize from memory.
> First, R134 is what is recommended by VW, full service bulletin on it.
> Second, when changing to R134 adapters are screwed on to the connections to
> the original AC. Those adapter are needed because of the fittings used with
> R134 AND to indicate that the change has been made. Now, for the Freeze 12
> (and a bunch of other such). There were several strong advocates of Freeze
> 12 for use in the Vanagon. And it apparently works quite well. But chasing
> down a bunch of links that people posted provided the reason that it is not
> 'approved'. It contains flammable gases in minute quantities and has not
> been tested to the point that is required for official approval. And on top
> of that it is specifically illegal for use in passenger cars in a number of
> States. BUT is is okay for non highway use like in farm equipment, heavy
> construction equipment, etc. That's why it is readily available especially
> around farming communities.
> Another related note on this subject, based on conversations with a close
> friend that at the time had been running his own auto repair shop for many
> years. If you load your AC system up with the stop leak gunk, and are
> honest about it, then most shope won't touch your AC system. This is
> because that stuff totally disables the refrigerant recovery systems that
> legit shops must use to recover the coolant rather than release it to the
> atmosphere. It had cost him big bucks to get his equipment fixed after such
> an incident and the second time it happened he quit servicing AC. Since
> then the makers of the AC recovery equipment have added a detector or some
> sort to try to avoid this problem but in talking to one service shop just a
> couple of years ago they said the same thing. If you've added a 'stop leak'
> to the AC they won't work on it.
>
>
>
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