It's gonna cost you.
It's 90s and humid here, and my A/C has never been charged and it's blowing not-so-cold so I decided to get it charged.
30 oz of R12 at $60 per pound plus labor came to $193
Well the good news is it was blowing 70 degrees (with 92 ambient) and is now blowing a cool 37 degrees. R134A won't do that.

 

Actually R134a will do that. 37 degrees is a pretty good number though... R12 ain't cheap but what you paid is murder. 15 per pound for R134a and 40ish per pound for R12 is about average. A/C is tough because its hard to get a place that's very good at it. YOU GOT ROBBED!!

 

Yeah I know I got robbed. Believe me I called a few places. All the same price around here. I had to pay city prices 'cause I didn't want to drive out to the boonies today.

 

37 Degrees?! That sounds pretty damn cold to me, I like! How would I get the same/similar results? Find a A/C shop and ask them to recharge with R12? Or would I have to change/add any hardware. Maybe it's just me, but my Accord's A/C doesn't come close to my Camry's A/C...I guess Honda just didn't spend that much R&D into that aspect of the car. BTW, what are the technical differences of R12, R134A, etc...just wondering.

 

Damn Dave, 37 degrees? We can use your car as a mobile keg-i-rator!

 

a/c

man you always pay too much for everything

 

trust me misa...if you lived down here...you would not be sayin that!!
a/c

 

But with A/C, you don't need to pay for deodorant because we don't show up at work a sweaty, stinky mess.

How's that logic for ya?

 

well here in the morning it is 60-70 degrees, no sweat literally

and you must have some messed eating habits for you to smell all funktafied when you sweat....

 

Lucky Charms and Beer.

Who you callin' meesed up oO?

 

Damn, dude that's a lot of loot. When I got my swap done they didn't install the a/c. So, for $150 I got a used 95 prelude compressor, and for $35 a new low-pressure hose (from a 92 Prelude), a couple cans of R134a, and that was it. My a/c works fine, and after 2 years is still plenty cold.

comperssor = $150
hose = $35
2 cans freon = $25
Making your a/c work again = priceless

 

If you walking into a shop and ask them to charge your R134a system with R12 they will probably laugh at you.

 

Hehe..Point taken. So when do you know that it's time to recharge the R134a?

 

Well in a perfect world you should never have to recharge your A/C but the last time I checked the world is far from perfect. If you can get your hands on a thermometer with a remote sensor (the sensor is on a cord - check out radioshack - guarentee they got it and you can return it tomorrow). Put the thermometer lead about 8 inches down into your center air vent. Next drive around for a coupe minutes and let your A/C system circulate for a bit on one of the upper fan settings then drop it down to the lowest fan setting (this is where your A/C is most efficient and will get the coldest). In less than ten minutes you should have mid thirties readings. If you never break 45 degrees a recharge may be in order. You may also want to inspect the condition of your hoses and whatnot under the hood. You shouldn't see any bulges, cracks, loose fittings, or any thing even remotely shady.

 

Reminds me. I need to build a Kegerator within 3 weeks.