Date: Wed, 9 Jun 1999 09:48:01 EDT
Reply-To: KENWILFY@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: KENWILFY@AOL.COM
Subject: Adventures in Air Conditioning 2
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
After I found out that I needed to have a licence to use the new Freeze-12
refrigerant I decided to get one. Went to a site on the web at
http://epatest.org/. They have the 609 EPA test online along with the study
guide. You can take the test on-line for $19.95 with your Visa card. It is
an open book test and they even have a link to the manual, which has all the
answers in it, from the test page. My recommendation is that you read the
entire manual first and then take the test. It should only take you about 30
mins to read the manual and then about 10 mins to take the test (only 25
questions). I tried to take the test without reading anything and looking up
the answers in the manual as I went along. It took me a little over an hour
to do it this way.
After the test they give you a temporary licence (you print the screen) and
your real licence will come in the mail within 30 days. That's all there is
to it. Don't need to be a certified mech or anything.
Going out to buy a bunch more Freeze-12 now and service the rest of my fleet.
I'll let you know how I make out.
Also I found an interesting product that might be a good alternative to
conventional A/C for some of our folks in a dryer climate. It is called a
swap cooler and they used to make these for Bugs and older Buses back in the
day (now Rocky Mountain sells reproduction ones if you are interested in
them). This company is at http://www.swampy.net/hprices.html (this is thier
price page. Go here first because there is no link to it from thier home
page. Wierd, eh?). They are basically units that blow air over water for
evaporative cooling effects. Not too expensive if you are facing a major A/C
repair or retrofit. The only thing that I think is a hold up on these being
a really super good idea is the amount of amperage the fans draw. It seems
to be pretty substancial and might wind up costing you as much
horsepower/fuel economy as an A/C compressor (with the added load on the
alternator). Let me know if you folks know anything about these or have any
comments.
Talk at you later.
Ken Wilford
Van-Again
John 3:16