The latest refrigerant gas for air con units is R1234YF and it is flammable, four times more expensive and leaks faster than the old R134A gas so that regassing is required every 18 months to two years. Being flammable I believe that regassing with it is not as straight forward as with the old R134A gas so not every garage is geared up to do the the job safely and in an environmentally friendly manner. Also the new systems are designed for the new R1234YF gas so it is not possible to save money by regassing with the old (much cheaper) R134A gas. I know I can ask around and look in local Yellow Pages but I am finding prices that relate to R134A gas and not R1234YF so, to spread the net wider, can anyone recommend a regassing expert for this new R1234YF gas in the Newcastle-Under-Lyme area and how much it is likely to cost for my Fabia Mk III?

Crumbs, has your 2017 Fabia had R1234YF in its A/C system, I thought VW Group would have used the industry exception/exclusions/excuses to stay away from that until the launch of the current Fabia/Polo/Ibiza/A1.

 

The (maybe) irony is because this stuff is not an ozone depleting gas, any man and his dog were said to be able to work with it - but now you say that it is flammable, so no doubt "any man and his dog" will now come under different regulations and industry training units will be rubbing their hands, known as "win win" for some!

 

This solves one problem and creates a few new ones - and lots of money for many, now truly that is called progress in our disfunctional society?

 

Way back, Calorcare was the way forward, and that as its name implies, was based on what we know as fuel gasses - and that worried me as we were using a serious capacity of refrigerants and any leak would need to be monitored and a shutdown and plantroom purge if things got too much, that could have been a bit much to manage in the manufacturing sector where plant was running 24/7.

Apparently if you look under the bonnet at the colour of the plastic cover caps sealing the air con service ports this tells you what gas the system is filled with. Light grey coloured caps, like mine, denote that the system is filled with the new R1234YF gas. I forget what colour the plastic caps were/are for the 'old' R134A gas.

 

Yes, you are right. It is a right EU sponsored money making racket.

 

I have no connection with the following website but it makes interesting reading: - https://www.maes-group.co.uk/air-conditioning/servicing-r1234yf-air-conditioning/

 

Oh well then "grey cover caps" says it all, R134A used black service port cover caps!

 

I'm hoping that your system has either stone damage or is otherwise faulty as I'm sure that level of leakage is not what the A/C industry expects from a sealed system regardless if the gas is/is not an ozone depleter!

 

Edit:- I would think as time goes on, the cost of R134A will increase and so go through the roof which would make changing to 1234yf easier to accept, also, I'd think that production costs for 1234yf will drop when it becomes the "usual" refrigerant for domestic fridges and A/C systems. As usual the higher performance fridge plants will get ignored even if it is them that generate much wealth for certain countries!

Edited 12 July, 20187 yr by rum4mo

It's not just my air con system that is leaking R1234YF, everyone's air con system that uses R1234YF leaks. See https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/AskHj/UserQuestion?questionId=105246&verify=do7lZqcJFcSWGw%2FNSv2It0ZNdvIVDQn1G0m1qdEH858%3D

 

I have no vested interest in the Honest John website other than that I have used it for years and I trust it. He gets a lot of real-world feedback from real people so I can't dispute what he writes.

7 minutes ago, wiganken1 said:

It's not just my air con system that is leaking R1234YF, everyone's air con system that uses R1234YF leaks. See https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/AskHj/UserQuestion?questionId=105246&verify=do7lZqcJFcSWGw%2FNSv2It0ZNdvIVDQn1G0m1qdEH858%3D

 

I have no vested interest in the Honest John website other than that I have used it for years and I trust it. He gets a lot of real-world feedback from real people so I can't dispute what he writes.

Link not working for me mate 

OK. Here is the text copy/pasted from Honest John's reply to my query: -

"Honest John    16 hours ago

Being a 2017 Fabia, your a/c is probably filled with R1234YF refrigerant, not R134a and R1234YF is flammable, is prone to leaking and costs four times as much. I'm getting a lot of reports of premature leakage of R1234YF, typically more than 75% by 2 years old."

I hope this link works: - https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/search/?q=R1234YF

 

Another money making racket using the environment as an excuse to line pockets.

 

I don't trust 'environmentalists' to tell the whole truth.

I think that's  the first time I've  made a 'politically incorrect' statement on here. Sorry 

Picture of my Air Con label: -

1 hour ago, RickW said:

I think that's  the first time I've  made a 'politically incorrect' statement on here. Sorry 

 

Rick, you naughty boy, you need a good spanking!!...

 

Seriously though, everyones aircon leaks all the time regardless of what gas is used. The latest gas may leak a bit faster but it should go 3 years ok. My car is now near 18 months old and the aircon is fine and working to peak efficiency. 

Mine is 30 months and highly effective.

2 hours ago, wiganken1 said:

Picture of my Air Con label: -

Qualified aircon engineers wear rossettes I see.

RickW, I like that observation. It brought a smile to my face but, back to my original two part question: -

"Can anyone recommend a regassing expert for this new R1234YF gas in the Newcastle-Under-Lyme area and how much it is likely to cost for my Fabia Mk III?"

 

Anybody?

I suppose it might be a balancing act sort of thing, but if your car is still under warranty, maybe sticking with Skoda is your best plan, having a proper but not Skoda A/C sorter looking into this and finding that its got a genuine fault, might just allow Skoda to walk away from fixing it FOC, but on the other hand, if it is just "typical" losses, then going the route of proper A/C fixer should be cheaper.

 

I'm that honestjohn did not know about most newer cars tending to have continuous running compressors etc!

 

Is that not just the old BMC logo on that guys uniform?

I agree,if your car is under 3 years old stick with Skoda.

 

Yes it's  a BMC rosette like on my Austin A40. My A40 doesn't have aircon by the way.

 

I've stopped using my Aircon full stop during this recent hot spell 

 

I have the wife in the car with me and that keeps the atmosphere is cold enough 

 

 

Just out of interest does your car have manual a/c, or climate control

 

I’m aware of a bit of compressor use in the climate control system to stop the system drying out (which is when the leaks occur), but does this happen with manual a/c

 

I tend to leave it on nearly all the time, all year, and ever since I first had a/c (on a Pug 405 in about 1994) never needed to regas system

9 hours ago, wiganken1 said:

Picture of my Air Con label: -

 

Judging by the label information, you must find a technician who is a Liberal Democrat supporter to do the job...!! You surely will be looking at around £80+ but I haven't checked the price of the new gas. I know it cost my lil sister £60 a year ago to have her Fabia Estate diesel regassed with the old stuff. 

Who'd use a Liberal-Democrat supporter to do anything that requires thinking about? Being serious though, it's a manual system and, based upon 30p/g gas cost (as per 2015 priced used by the maes-grroup website I quoted above) and having to replace 200g of gas I estimate that I'll be paying £100. I expect the gas price will have come down as R1234YF production will have increased over the last three years but I'll bet they exploit the change-over from R134A gas to R1234YF gas and charge still more.

 

Incidentally as the change-over happens I believe that R1234A production is going up and R134A is going down and I have read somewhere that the costs will reverse. Re-gassing with the old R134A will become more expensive and the new R1234YF will become cheaper.

 

Sounds about right wiganken1.

Hope so Wiganken1.

 My car is 3yrs and 4 months old at my second service last year a regas was offered as an advisory service for £75 by main dealer which i turned down. Its still working ok and producing cold air possibly because i use the automatic setting on the climate controll so the a/c is never turned off keeping all the parts oiled Joe

13 hours ago, JoePeddos said:

 My car is 3yrs and 4 months old at my second service last year a regas was offered as an advisory service for £75 by main dealer which i turned down. Its still working ok and producing cold air possibly because i use the automatic setting on the climate controll so the a/c is never turned off keeping all the parts oiled Joe

Just checked the a/c incoming air temperature the external temp 26c the cold air is coming in at 5c so i dont think there is much wrong with the a/c Joe