[Vwdiesel] AC with propane

[Dave Cook]

134a doesn't have quite the cooling capacity of R12.  So when manufacturers switched over, they increased the capacity of the system to compensate.

So, some people notice that the A/C doesn't work quite as well with 134a as it did with R12.  Some cars that are converted cool quite well with 134 (as my Corrado did) but I would say it totally depends on the design of the particular car and it's HVAC system.

Cars built with 134a work well because that is what it is designed to do.  Cars built with R12 may or may not work well once converted, depending on the original design.

Dave Cook


--- On Sat, 6/6/09, William J Toensing <toensing at wildblue.net> wrote:

> From: William J Toensing <toensing at wildblue.net>
> Subject: [Vwdiesel] AC with propane
> To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com
> Date: Saturday, June 6, 2009, 4:02 AM
> Don't recall exactly the time frame
> but I think it was about 20 years ago that they started
> phase out R-12 freon because the experts said it was causing
> a growing hole in the ozone over Antarctica & Australia.
> Eventually the USA government prohibited the manufacture of
> R-12 but it was permitted to capture & recycle the R-12
> that existed. Some of us could see the handwriting on the
> wall & laid in a supply of R-12 when it was still under
> $2 a can. With the scarcity of R-12 some propane substitutes
> started showing up at auto swap meets as a substitute for
> the costly & hard to get R-12. I wouldn't use it due to
> the safety factor! R-134a was developed as a substitute for
> R-12 as it is supposed to be ozone friendly & I think
> all cars since around 1995 or a bit earlier have been
> equipped with R-134a which some claim is not as good as
> R-12. However the A/C on my 2001 Ford Focus still works
> well. Our 1995 Olds has R-134a which has different fittings
> to prevent mixing R-12 with R134a which I guess would
> destroy the A/C system. There would be no significant cost
> benefit in using propane as a substitute for R134a. I guess
> there are a lot of younger people who don't know this
> history, just as some don't know what a carburetor is since
> they have grown up in the fuel injection era.
> Bill Toensing, Nevada City, CA
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