Last year I seem to remember reading about a new upcoming coolant that would be compatible with R12. Anyone know anything about that?

There are a bunch out, and none of them has really been received with any sort of popularity. A few people use some of the various replacements, but I stick with R134a. Conversions are cheap, the freon is plentiful, and unless you know what you're doing and you've got all the proper equipment, you should just let a shop take care of it anyway. They have recovery machines to reclaim what's in your system, and they have the abilities to pull it into a vacuum, which as far as I'm concerned, is essential when you've had your system open or if your system has been low for a long period of time. It's a good idea the rest of the time too.

kind of off topic, but did you know some manufacturers are looking into using co2 as a refrigerent?

Only problem is that a co2 system will be very high pressure, last i saw they were thinking about using braided stainless lines for the system.

So i guess if the tree huggers complain enough, we'll be seeing that soon...

I've mixed duracool with R-12 with great sucess.

Where to you get duracool?

Its a Refridgerant. www.DuraCool.com I picked up a can at a swap meet for 5 bucks.

co2 shouldnt harm the environment. If it does tree huggers should hate paintball players. co2 is a common gas used to power paintball guns. All of it would eventually end up in the air.

carbon dioxide is co2. carbon monoxide is something else.

Im pretty sure co2 is safe..carbon monoxide isnt tho.

Im not positive about the above statement...maybe someone could support or own that previous statement

uh...i dont recall saying co2 wasnt safe.

i meant if tree huggers complain enough about how dangerous r-134 is, then we'll see co2.

i'm also a pro paintball player, i got two full 100 lb siphon tanks of co2 just sitting in my basement right now.

interesting sidenote: you exhale co2 and water. which is also the exact leftovers after a perfect gasoline burn.

I just finished checking out their website. Did you evacuate your R12, or just top it off?

just hooked it up and let er fly. it took the whole can. It says you are suppose to evaculate the whole system and install but on the can it says you can mix and I even called and they said you can mix, but for enviromental reasons you were suppose to get rid of the R-12

Did you need to change any fittings?

Nope Screwed the hose onto the can and onto my car , put the air on max and let it run its cycle. This was done on my 90 Lumina, at 90,000 miles. At 143,000 its still 43* degrees.

You are the man! Thanks....that's what I was looking for.

Which is part of why I don't like the stuff. People mix it with their R12, and then when somebody reclaims the R12 from the system later on, it contaminates their entire R12 supply, which is becoming excessively rare and expensive these days.

Plus, adding this stuff by guessing isn't very smart. Just because it "took the can" doesn't mean it's filled to the right level. You can easily overfill a system. The only way to know how much is in there is to evacuate it and start with an empty system. You can just add to what's there, but to have an idea of how much is in there, you need the gauges to see how the system is behaving.

You can change a motor in your back yard, you can do a tune-up, but if you don't have the proper equipment, you can really screw up your a/c system. Doing A/C work doesn't really work out for back yard mechanics.

There have been drop-in replacements available for years. I've used R414 for almost ten years now. It can be used as a top-off refrigerant, or as a complete replacement for R12.

I'll bet you a cream filled long john and cup of coffee (not one of those lame-*** Starbucks designer coffees, but real coffee that you can stand a spoon in) that you'll see R410 long before CO² as an automotive refrigerant in any significant volumes.

Braided stainless lines? Why would the industry switch to something weaker than what they're using now? Don't you know that refrigeration hoses need to be a barrier-type? And that true high pressure hose (ala Parker, Aero, and Imperail Eastman) don't use the weaker stainless overbraid? I'm not talking the low pressure (0-2,000 PSI) stuff, but the real pressure hoses for 15-20,000 PSI service. I friggin' HATE stainless overbraids!

Where's my doughnut?