Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2020 01:01:39 -0500
Reply-To: Tom Hargrave <thargrav@HIWAAY.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Tom Hargrave <thargrav@HIWAAY.NET>
Subject: Re: found some freon 12 should I recharge old AC
In-Reply-To: <1766349651.107173.1586833949870@mail.yahoo.com>
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Your mechanic lied to you, or at least he misquoted federal law. You are allowed to add Freon to a system with slow leaks, you are not allowed to add Freon to a system with excessive leaks. But repair the leaks and you are allowed to add Freon again, even R12.
Thanks, Tom Hargrave
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-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf Of Richard Koerner
Sent: Monday, April 13, 2020 10:12 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: found some freon 12 should I recharge old AC
(I tried sending this before...nothing happened...might be useful for someone. So am trying to send again. Will NOT be offended if of no use for anyone.)
I wanted to fix my 85 Vanagon A/C after doing the Subie 2.2 conversion. Conversion came with a Subaru A/C compressor; my converter had to get a couple new lines made. Re-filled system with R-12. Excellent!....for about 2 months...doh. So there is this local San Diego A/C shop who knows Vanagons; took it to him. Using "sniffer" thing, discovered many leaks; most were O-rings, easily fixable and they did so. However....there was still one small leak coming out of Evaporator (on an 85 Tintop it's a big monster contraption hanging down from ceiling behind front seats). To fix that would be like $2000....and super brittle plastic housings. By Federal Law, he could not add R-12 to a system that had been determined to have leaks. So the decision was made....convert to R-134A.
All was good for about 9 months. But, slowly weaker performance. I asked my guy about that Stop-Leak product available for R-134A. He said, Yes it might work, or help at least. Here is the Big Thing though: once you have that Stop-Leak stuff in your system, it opens a whole can of worms. If you ever need your system evacuated, it will RUIN a shop's equipment. So nobody will work on it, and you are on your own forevermore.
I considered all my options....and decided to try the Stop-Leak. Worked very well, like magic. Still a tiny leak from somewhere. So now the situation is: every year around June 1 or so, I hook up my gauge set, and add a can or so of R-134A to the appropriate High and Low Side pressures. It generally lasts all summer and fall. Over winter and spring, I never need A/C of course. But then come June 1, I repeat the cycle.
Not sure if the wisest approach and decision-making.....but so far so good.
Rich
San Diego
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