[AT] Air conditioning problems In my parts getter...

[Steve W.]

Brad Loomis wrote:
> I hope you meant a detector for the current refrigerants and not NH3. 
> Ammonia only requires your nose or a sulphur stick. And for those that 
> may want to try their hand at refrigeration, a lot of the newer 
> domestic/commercial units use either propane, R290 or isobutane R600a, 
> as refrigerant. I'm not sure what the automotive industry is going to 
> move to. I got out of commercial refrigeration not long after the 
> requirements to recover and the end of R12, R22, R502, R11, and the rest 
> of the chlorinated fluorocarbons.It was an awful time never knowing what 
> someone put into what system. Then came 410a in A/C. Now that's going 
> away. Customers didn't like to hear, we don't use that refrigerant, 
> we'll have to recover it, time consuming, and charge your system with an 
> EPA approved refrigerant, maybe have to change the oil, etc, etc, 
> equipment was slow so labor costs were absurd. Like I said, ammonia is 
> safe, easy, efficient, and well,  dangerous in the wrong hands. :) 
> And the bigger warning would be to never pressure test any system with 
> oxygen.  
> And by this discussion it is apparent why automotive is the driving 
> force for EPA  to regulate what goes into the atmosphere. A billion 
> leaking autos is a lot of gas into the atmosphere. It just moved to HVAC 
> and refrigeration because of the same gasses. 
> 
> 
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Auto was R-12, then R134A and the new kid on the block is R1234yf The 
new stuff is $$$$$$$ and flammable. A couple companies are also playing 
with CO2 but the pressures in those make it unlikely they will end up 
being used anytime soon.

A 10 pound cylinder runs close to $900.00 at the moment. 8 oz cans are 
about $50.00 a pop.

If you are doing it as a business you need a lot of new toys for leaks, 
testing and repair which is why I'm in no rush. Still a majority of 134A 
vehicles around here. Not in a rush to spend big money for the new 
machine, detector and testing equipment and a quick skills update for 
the 609 crowd.

-- 
Steve W.