EDIT:UPDATE BELOW!!!

I just purchased a recharge kit of R-12a.

It's supposidly supposed to cool about as well as R-12, but it's completely non-toxic and non ozone depleating. It is EPA certified, and is also farily cheep. I got a kit of 2 6oz cans and adapter fittings for $40 shipped.

" Cools extremely better than R134a - Cools marginally better than FREON

Up to 35% more efficient than R134a - Moderately more efficient than FREON"

More info:
http://www.duracool.com/-faq.html

Anyone here already convert? How is it? Any tips on doing the conversion?

Thanks,
Bryson


Modified by Bryson at 1:48 PM 7/18/2005

 

I would also like to know to. I cant stand the Texas heat anymore

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EF Two &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I would also like to know to. I cant stand the Texas heat anymore </TD></TR></TABLE>

I know. I'm getting headachs everytime I drive my car more than 20 minutes. I just can't stand it.

 

I converted me 90 DX hatch over last friday,used one of the kits from walmart.I'll admit,it cools better than I expected.I started thursday evening by undoing the lines off compressor.got a qt of "flush & clean" or something like that from auto-zone for like $6.99 in with the cans of 134a.I put a funnel to one line,poured bout half a qt in,went very slowly.Let that soak a while and blew it through system and out the other line with an air gun.Some gunky stuff came out of there,but then again its 14 yrs old.Then I poured the other half in,again it took a long,long time.blew through some,just enough to make sure it was through the system good,and put the hood down and left it till the next day to soak a while.I got up and blew the rest out,took a lot of air and my car got covered in oil mist.That flush&clean looked like baby oil and had nearly no odor,but ended up getting all over my car the way I did it.Once I thought I had nearly all of it out I blew through the other hose,blowing the opposite direction,more stuff came out,When I thought I was done again,I hooked up the 2 lines back to the compressor with new AC o-rings,bought at auto-zone also,20 pack of different sizes for $2.99 i think.I had other things to tend to at this point so I washed car down and left till evening rolled around.Around 7:30 I hooked a vaccum pump up to it and pulled it down to 30 in hg,I ended up pulling vaccum for about an hour to make sure all moisture was out of the system.I put one can in so the compressor would kick on,then started car and added more till I was at 45lbs at 80* outside temp as it was 9pm then.If I had saw the 12a stuff you linked I would have tried it before I switched to 134a,not that it was hard,just messy,and I'm lazy.Good point I see in the Duracool 12a is you dont have to change the oil.I've heard horror stories bout compressors locking up when you change from r12 to 134a,If mine does,I lost the cost of 2 cans refrigerant and a qt of flush,If it dont lock up,I saved the cost of a compressor as one AC shop I talked to told me they would replace it if I had them change it over,and couldnt give me an estiment till they started and saw "exactly" what all I needed. One thing I would advise,if you do pull vaccum,pull to 30 in hg and not 10 as duracool says.To me pulling to 10 would be like rebuilding a motor and putting new exhaust valves and leaving the old intake valves.Good luck and let us know how it works out/cools.

 

Duracool = propane. Propane is indeed a better refrigerant than even R12. It is also completely nontoxic and environmentally safe. On the other hand, it is flammable. But even R134a will burn. And when it does, it creates some nasty stuff (which propane doesn't).

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by StorminMatt &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Duracool = propane. Propane is indeed a better refrigerant than even R12. It is also completely nontoxic and environmentally safe. On the other hand, it is flammable. But even R134a will burn. And when it does, it creates some nasty stuff (which propane doesn't).</TD></TR></TABLE>

Oh really? I didn't know that. The site didn't say anything about it being propane. I hope my A/C system doesn't blow up. That would suck.

 

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

Oh really? I didn't know that. The site didn't say anything about it being propane. I hope my A/C system doesn't blow up. That would suck. </TD></TR></TABLE>

The website DID say it was propane. Look under the heading of flammability. It also mentions the fact that it is a hydrocarbon (which propane is) on numerous occasions. Of course, the word 'hydrocarbon' does not raise as many red flags for the layperson as the word 'propane'.

As for your A/C system 'blowing up' for no good reason, this is not going to happen. Propane is actually quite stable. And it is not going to spontaneously blow up in a closed system with no air. The only REAL concern here would be the possibility of the propane igniting should your system be breached (as with possibly a frontal collision) with an ignition source present.

 

there is stuff available here called Johnsen's Freeze-12 which is supposed to be a direct replacement for R-12. I tightened up the system on my ol' '89 about 6 years ago; put a charge in it (using an a/c guage set, of course) and the system still works great according to my cousin and current owner. it claims to be non-flammable and have no CFC's. the set of guages has a part that opens the side of the can so no adapter fittings were necessary.

the company is out of Dallas TX. (800) 527-0885

 

R-12 blows colder but in 96 or 97 they switched to R-134 because its more ozone safe, and R-12 is a hella lot more than the R-134A, in TEXAS a can of R-12 goes for 45$'s and R-134a goes for around 4 bucks and im a cheapass so ya id stay R-134A but my hatch doesnt even have AC so either way im fucked

 

R-12A? Hell, I just converted my car over to R-134. What needs to be done to convert to R-12A?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by StorminMatt &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">As for your A/C system 'blowing up' for no good reason, this is not going to happen. Propane is actually quite stable. And it is not going to spontaneously blow up in a closed system with no air. The only REAL concern here would be the possibility of the propane igniting should your system be breached (as with possibly a frontal collision) with an ignition source present.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Of course, we are sitting right in front of a large tank of flammable gasoline that I am sure bursts in a rear-end collision and no one worries about that. The amount of Duracool you use is very small.

I plan to change mine from R134A to Duracool in the fall. It is not as cool as I would like, but if I eff things up I do not want to be out of AC altogether. Another problem of conversions to R134 like I have is that the compressors and everything are sized for R12. Apparently, R134 doesn't perform optimally unless the components were sized for it.

After reading Duracool's entire site, I am convinced that it will perform better, is no more risky, and is less harmful to the environment.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GReddy4U &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">R-12 blows colder but in 96 or 97 they switched to R-134 because its more ozone safe, and R-12 is a hella lot more than the R-134A, in TEXAS a can of R-12 goes for 45$'s and R-134a goes for around 4 bucks and im a cheapass so ya id stay R-134A but my hatch doesnt even have AC so either way im fucked </TD></TR></TABLE>

But you need a license to purchase R-12.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ex voto &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">R-12A? Hell, I just converted my car over to R-134. What needs to be done to convert to R-12A?</TD></TR></TABLE>

The website tells all.

 

BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP

So I got my recharge kit in the mail the other day, and finally had time to try it out. I had the system flushed of the remaining R-12 (Barely anything left), and charged up the system with two full cans of the Duracool.

my A/C system has never been this cool! I wish I had a thermometer to test how cold it really is, but its at least 95degrees right now, and it feels like 60 inside my car.

I definetly reccomend this to ANYONE. It will work with ANY A/C system and should perform better than anything on the market.

 

I'm gonna order it! I don't want to pay for gauges so I'll hit up friends for some to borrow.

 

Man time flies. I am about to do the switch. I also need to check or replace the anemic blower. It says to put 10 in Hg on the system. Anyone know how to do this? Can I just buy a pump from the auto parts store? I can't wait! We had 83 degrees here today!