AIR CON REGAS FOR

[curs]

If it is broken don't fix it, just make sure you use it from time to time even in the winter and it will last for years, sons 10 year mini never had a gas service and still blowing out nice cold air. Had a renault megane A/C service after 2 years as recommended and never worked properly after that day had to top up every year, to me just another money making game.

[raisbeck]

Kind of off-topic. But is the UK and EU allowing hydrocarbon refrigerants in cars?

Only R134A is permitted in UK for aircraft aircon. Its a Hydrofluorocarbon. It replaces R12 a Chlorofluorocarbon. Not sure about cars but I guess its under the same EU law.

Supposedly after Jan 2011 no aircon gas with GWP greater than 150 can be used but I am sure they are still churning out cars with R134A in them. No suitable replacement exists so maybe they got an extension.

Problem is tree hugging aircon gas requires a very high pressure system.....cars just arent built for that yet.

[Kiwibacon]

Only R134A is permitted in UK for aircraft aircon. Its a Hydrofluorocarbon. It replaces R12 a Chlorofluorocarbon. Not sure about cars but I guess its under the same EU law.

Supposedly after Jan 2011 no aircon gas with GWP greater than 150 can be used but I am sure they are still churning out cars with R134A in them. No suitable replacement exists so maybe they got an extension.

Problem is tree hugging aircon gas requires a very high pressure system.....cars just arent built for that yet.

There was a new replacement but I can't recall the code.

That's the interesting thing about hydrocarbon refrigerants, no high pressure system needed and extremely low gwp. They are mostly propane/butane (R290/R600) blends which are a lot more efficient than R134a. I have a paper somewhere about the use of propane in heat pumps in Germany and the resulting efficiency gains.

Aussie is big on HC refrigerants. It also works better in their high ambient temps, the critical point is higher.

[Kentish]

R134a is a HydroChloroFlouroCarbon (HCFC) and it's not ozone depleting is in still in use.

You pull a vacuum on the system to boil of any debris/oil/refridgerant or moisture to allow the refridgerant to flow unimpeeded.

As for not using gauges....what do you think we used years ago? Yes you had a still to measure so many grams of R12 or R134a to enter the system after pulling the vacuum for around 20-30 mins, but you could tell everything by the low gauge connected to the low side stubbon the compressor, and the same can still apply if you know how to read the gauges.

BTW hello after many years of absence

Edited 23 May, 2012 by Kentish