Re: Direct Freon replacement?

[jdean@cstone.net (John W. Dean)]

On Wed, 14 May 1997 10:43:45 -0400 (EDT), you wrote:

>Hey all,
>I read in European Car about 8 months ago about a new "direct replacement"
>for Freon.  They only thing you need to buy is an adapter for recharging.
> ANyone else hear of this or has anyone USED it?????  

It's a real bad idea, in my opinion, to use any of the so-called
'drop-in' replacements for R-12 Freon.  They have some very unusual
characteristics, which no mechanic can be expected to know.  For one
thing they contain butane, which is not explosive in the mixture if it
is used correctly but which can become explosive in a system that is
serviced by people who don't know the unusual properties of these
oddball chemical mixtures.

The easiest answer to the Freon problem is simply to upgrade to R-134a,
which is now the standard Freon product.  The retrofit is not difficult
or expensive, and might even be cheaper than charging with R-12 at
today's prices.  Most of the retrofit problems that were foreseen
early-on have not materialized, and the few real problems have been
solved.  Scare stories about repairing older A/C systems are mostly
paranoia.  The only scary part is the prospect of people using incorrect
or unusual products in the system.

Naturally, you'll have to repair any problems that your system has.  I
would assume you have a problem, or else you'd just leave the system
alone with whatever Freon is in it now. 

My personal feeling is that the market for R-12 is going to dry up
almost immediately, as people adapt to the need for retrofit to R-134a.
Thus the price will come back down, but probably not so far that it will
be widely used.  Recycled R-12 will probably be around for a long time.

John Dean
Charlottesville Virginia USA