DireFire34

First of all, I am wondering if there is an attachment for an a/c vacuum pump to capture the 134a refrigerant that will come out of my a/c when i evac the whole system. i know its illegal to just use the vacuum pump and let the 134a into the air so i was wondering if, doing it at home, there was a tank i could get to attach to a pump or if u do it at home, the only way is to let the 134a go into the atmosphere?

secondly, what is the min horse power that a pump should have that will properly pull a deep vacuum? I found one on ebay for $100 thats brand new, 1.5CFM and is 1/6 horsepower. (Pic below.) I know ill get a good manifold, i just dont know what pump to buy.

This is an ADT-3409 pump

Any info is helpful

Frozen E

UHmmm, no. A vacuum pump isn't used to recover refrigerant. It does exactly as it's name states. It pulls a vacuum on an already recovered system. Once you get everything pulled out of an AC system and get it down to 0 psi, a QUALIFIED AC TECHNICIAN hooks a vacuum pump up to pull the system down to 30" Hg. This ensures that all the air and leftover refrigerant is out of the system and is also used to leak check the system.
To get to the point where you can actually hook a vacuum pump up you need to use a recovery machine, a set of manifold gauges and a recovery cylinder. AC work really isn't DIY stuff. You need to know what you're doing. Take your car to a shop and have them do the work for you.

DireFire34

I have the manifold from a neighbor that retired from a mechanics shop, along with the red blue and yellow lines.

would an a/c shop drain my a/c lines if thats all i wanted so it would be free of refrigerant? iv been researching how ot do all of this stuff and saw the writeup "HOW TO: Charging your A/C air conditioner conditioning system at home." I was just making clear that the vacuum pump wouldnt expell the refrigerant at the same time.

If i did get the 134a taken out, what pump should I get? is the 1/6 HP pump shown above enough?


Modified by DireFire34 at 1:02 AM 7/2/2006

Frozen E

a vacuum pump is a vacuum pump. They're not used to recover refrigerant no matter what kind you get. If you were to hook one up to a full system you'd blow all the oil out of it. That's NOT what they're made for.
Look for a pump that will pull your system down to 30". You're going to need adapters to hook the gauges up to the car if it's 134A.
Yellow hose hooks to the pump, red on the high side, blue on the low side.
Open up manifold and turn on pump. Once you get it down to 30" and let it sit for about an hour or so doing that, shut the manifold, disconnect the yellow hose from the pump and hook up your refer can. Break the seal on the can and crack the connector on the manifold for the yellow hose and purge out any air in the hose. Then just follow the charging instructions you found on the net or wherever.
You're going to pay a shop to recover your system, right? Then you're going to pay another $100 or so for the vacuum pump and then some more for the refrigerant. It'll probably come out to just about the same if you had a shop recharge the system for you.

Why are you doing this again anyway? You're pulling all your refrigerant out so you can recharge it? Doesn't make sense to me.

sohcvtec1995

for the amount of money and time taht you are going to waste just take it to someone who has the correct tools and machines. a manifold gauge, and a vacume pump, dose not qualify you as a ac tech. also you need to know the righ pressures, the amount of freon that goes in, also the freon it self. unless your going to just get a bunch of those recharge kits.

DireFire34

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sohcvtec1995 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">for the amount of money and time taht you are going to waste just take it to someone who has the correct tools and machines. a manifold gauge, and a vacume pump, dose not qualify you as a ac tech. also you need to know the righ pressures, the amount of freon that goes in, also the freon it self. </TD></TR></TABLE>

my car needs 22 oz of freeon when its totally empty. of course it doesnt qualify me as an a/c tech. im not qualified as a honda certified tech but iv never paid anyone to fix anything on my car, iv learned how to fix it myself the correct way. sure using the correct manifold might not be how the professional ppl do it in the shop because they use the $3500 machines but the way i found will work it just takes more effort. iv come a long ways along the a/c path on how everything works and how to properly install and service everythings. im still researching so i know more

sohcvtec1995

By all means learn away. just remember that while your learning stuff, in the end it will just cost more to fix it..

DireFire34

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sohcvtec1995 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">By all means learn away. just remember that while your learning stuff, in the end it will just cost more to fix it..</TD></TR></TABLE>

not true always. i was learning how to do my timing belt, i did it and nothing has cost me to fix it.

Frozen E

Still don't understand why you're emptying your system and then charging it back up.

sohcvtec1995

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DireFire34 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">not true always. i was learning how to do my timing belt, i did it and nothing has cost me to fix it. </TD></TR></TABLE>
and if you had messed up while learning taht and bent some valves then yes it would have cost you more to have it fixed.

DireFire34

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DireFire34 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

not true always<U></U>. </TD></TR></TABLE>

if u folow the right way how to do it, u wont mess it up

drumminforev

For further inquiries...
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1665946


Modified by drumminforev at 1:41 PM 8/1/2006