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R12 to R134 conversion

gonna put my flame suit on...

I used the stuff from Red Tek. half a can of leak seal, two cans of 12A.

Their instructions say to aim for 30-38 psi on the low side with the compressor running. With what I put in, the compressor now stays on like it should and my low side pressure is 31 psi steady.

Vent temps are 52 F, and with outside temps at 95+ F and the truck sitting in the sun the temp inside the truck after 10 minutes was 76F. That is with a 12x12 hole still waiting to be patched leaking all that beautiful cold air out and the hot air in.

We'll see how long it lasts I guess.

Rene
 
WOW that is cold. Typical target vent temp is 20-25 degrees below the ambient tempurature.
 
tRustyK5 said:
gonna put my flame suit on...

I used the stuff from Red Tek. half a can of leak seal, two cans of 12A.

Their instructions say to aim for 30-38 psi on the low side with the compressor running. With what I put in, the compressor now stays on like it should and my low side pressure is 31 psi steady.

Vent temps are 52 F, and with outside temps at 95+ F and the truck sitting in the sun the temp inside the truck after 10 minutes was 76F. That is with a 12x12 hole still waiting to be patched leaking all that beautiful cold air out and the hot air in.

We'll see how long it lasts I guess.

Rene
Click to expand...
for a quick leak fix i use this stuff called red angel works really well. dont worry about the flame suit, it dont bother me, im no tree hugger or epa douche. its likely the system is fine if it stil had pressure in it.
 
AKbigsub said:
WOW that is cold. Typical target vent temp is 20-25 degrees below the ambient tempurature.
Click to expand...

I was pretty tickled with that, I posted a link to the Red Tek site a few posts higher, and they claim it's colder the R12 and the 134A, environment friendly, and compatible with the oils used in either system. the instructions say a purge of the old refridgerant is "recommended". Mixing refridgerants is illegal.

I read between the lines and added the 12A to the small amount of leftover R12. I'm sure somewhere a tree died. Sorry mr. tree.

Rene
 
I was being a little facetious of course... :p:

This spring I had a chunk of plate glass fall into the AC condensor on the one Garbage truck I drive. Had to be 3 or 4 lbs of (likely) 134a vented out. :doah: Ya gotta think pretty much every front end collision results in the same.

I try, but in reality I don't buy into 10% of the scare bullsh!t they throw out there.

As for Red Tek, it's sold here at a large national chain called Canadian tire (I can see my Canuck brother's rolling their eyes) $16 a can for the 12a.

You can read all the product info here:

www.redtek.com

There is a conversion chart in there somewhere. My system is labelled at 3.25 lbs of R12. Equivalent 12a is about 20 ounces (3 and a bit 6 oz cans) I did add about 2-3 oz of the leak sealer stuff, plus two cans. I think i'm about 95% full and they did say err on the low side if anything. more is definitely not better. I'm in their recomended range of 30-38 psi on the low side...

Rene
 
http://www.redtek.com/whereus.htm

Their site has nothing for retail sales locations. Even the Canadian side is pretty pathetic with one distributor for western Canada listed, but nothing retail.

The site does have a fair bit of tech info, maybe you guys that know a ton more about AC stuff can sift through it and decipher if it's just a very similar product to freeze 12, or something different altogether?

Rene
 
red tech sounds like freeze12 to me. beware using it as you will have problems getting AC shops to service it.

Freeze 12 is basically an azeotropic mixture consisting of 80% R-134a and 20% R-142b. The R-142b is there mostly for the purpose of carrying the mineral oil through the system. If the system leaks, the R-142b will likely leak out before the R-134a will, since R-142b consists of smaller molecules. This has several implications:

1) You cannot easily top off a Freeze 12 system, since there's no easy way to confirm that the mixture in the system still has the correct proportions

2) If the R-142b is lost, the system will no longer carry the mineral oil, and your compressor will then burn up and fail in very short order.

3) Very few places service Freeze 12 systems, because the EPA requires that all refrigerants and refrigerant blends be recovered and stored in their own SEPARATE color-coded containers. This means that if you ever need to have the system worked on in the future for any reason, you'll have a hard time finding a technician who will work on it for you, because most technicians simply do not have the time, money, or will to purchase extra equipment JUST for Freeze 12.

4) Since Freeze 12 is 80% R-134a anyway, I suspect that at the very least, you'll probably STILL need to change out the desiccant to one that is R-134a compatible. This point alone really negates the whole dream of Freeze 12 being a "drop in" replacement for R-12, in my opinion. If you're going to change out the desiccant this way (which in itself requires evacuating the old refrigerant), why not go ALL the way, and just do a full retrofit to R-134a?


My r134a conversion on my Honda accord managed 63 degrees below ambient and vent temps were 34 degrees on high blower, 1500 RPM with all windows down. r-134a can get dang cold when converted with care.


Good luck with your charge.

Cheers,
Rufus
 
Rene what I'd do is run it. The worst thing to happen is a complete system failure. That means replace the lines, compressor, condensor, and evaporator. The evap will be the hardest one because its buried in the dash. If you have to go full 134 you need to upgrade the condensor and flush all the old oil out anyway.

So it works now so enjoy the cold
 
smalltruckbigcid said:
Rene what I'd do is run it. The worst thing to happen is a complete system failure. That means replace the lines, compressor, condensor, and evaporator. The evap will be the hardest one because its buried in the dash. If you have to go full 134 you need to upgrade the condensor and flush all the old oil out anyway.

So it works now so enjoy the cold
Click to expand...

That is the current plan. I'll update this thread if the system craps the bed...or if it doesn't.

Rene
 
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