[s-cars] Good news for R12 A/C people

[John]

Hey Dave,

This is great information. Thanks!

On a related note, do you know of a lighter, smaller, more efficient compressor to replace the heavy York urq compressor.

John

djdawson2 at aol.com wrote:




Always been a quandary what to do with R12 cars as the refrigerant becomes less available and more expensive.

I've never been a fan of converting R12 systems to R134... the pressure set points on the R12 system compressors and the phase change points for the R134 refrigerant are not optimally compatible, leading to less than great performance overall.  On top of that you have to go through the exercise and expense of changing out all your o-rings and attempting to purge all of the system's non-compatible oil, sometimes hoses, etc...

In the past, a drop-in replacement has been a product called Autofrost, also known as R406A.  I've used this product over the years, and it performed quite well.  Additionally, it could be used to top off a low charge situation without removing the old R12.

I recently depleted my remaining supply of the R406A, and when I attempted to order another cylinder, I found that it was no longer available.  The supplier advised that I try RS24, also known as R426A.

I had just received my cylinder of RS24 when a fellow lister (Justin Riley) needed some help with the A/C in his freshly renovated '85 urq.  He had just replaced his receiver/dryer and compressor.  We evacuated his system for about an hour, and then charged it with the RS24.  Very quickly we were seeing vent temps in the 33-37 degree range, depending on engine speed (a little more speed = colder).

Bottom line - impressive, and a viable alternative to those with R12 cars.

You can read up on RS24 - but here are some highlights:

- You can NOT top off a low R12 system with the RS24.  It must be completely evacuated and recharged.  Very strongly recommended that you replace the receiver/dryer when doing this
- You do not have to worry about oil compatibility

You can go here  http://www.rscool.com/RS-24.html ; to see the product charts, MSDS, etc..  Also available is a pressure chart which shows performance side by side of R12, R134, and RS24... clearly indicating why the RS24 is a far superior solution to converting to R134.

Anyway... thought this might be interesting to folks like me - with a garage full of R12 cars.

Dave





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