AC refrigerant

[Phil and Judy Rose <pjrose@servtech.com>]

>You pay much less for refrigerant (if it's R12) than we do. Here it's
>~$40-50 lb, so ~100 USD for a full charge. Anyway, take it immediately
>to the shop that's going to do the repairs, or the recharging if you do
>the repairs. You may still have a little R12 in there which can be
>sucked out and "saved" by the shop until your repairs are complete and
>you're ready for a recharge. Consider replacing the receiver/dryer--if
>that's not the part with the leak--as they can get contaminated by a
>leak.
>
>hth,
>James
>Boise, ID, where the _high_ was 5 dC today

James,
The price for R-12 in Idaho seems very high, relative to what I recall
seeing and paying within the past year or so, here in Rochester, NY.  I see
30-lb containers of R-12 currently selling for under $600 at a local
membership warehouse-style retailer (BJ's Wholesale Club), and the local
A/C shops seem to be marking the stuff up (or trying to) at around $30/lb.
Although R-12 price has gone up enormously over the past 5 or 6 years,
repair shops have evidently been engaged in outlandish price-gouging.

There's a local A/C shop that--during the spring/summer--has his parking
lot crammed full of cars--maybe 15 at a time (mostly older models) waiting
for A/C repair and recharging. He's always working on at least 4 or 5 at
any one time. I'd estimate that he processes 20 vehicles per day and
probably gets a markup of at least $10/lb on the average R-12 recharge of 2
or 3 lbs/vehicle. Add to that the charges for labor, hoses, pipes,
connectors. This ol' guy (well, older than me and I'm 58) with one helper,
a single work bay (no hydraulic lift) and a license to kill (ozone, that
is) probably clears at least $4000 or $5000/week during the high season.

Dustin Hoffman ("The Graduate") got the wrong advice. Should've been
"Freon, my boy, Freon."

Phil

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