Hey everyone! I disconnected my ac compressor today (the previous owner had already gotten it depressurized). However, when I removed the compressor and lines, a green chemical came out and spilled all over my garage floor, and it smells HORRENDOUS. A) is this freon and should I be worried about the fact that I was breathing it in for a few minutes? B) how can I remove this smell? I tried baking soda and it neutralized it a bit. Thank you anyone for any advice I appreciate it.

 

No, freon boils at atmospheric temp. It would have shot out in gas form, which is not good to breath in, but I'm sure you will live... it was more than likely compressor oil and or dye for leak tests... I would try some Simple Green or other product that dissolves oil...

 

Awesome thank you for the quick response I appreciate it! I'll give simple green a shot. Once again, thank you

 

What year is your car? Freon generally goes gaseous, and wouldn't have left any kind of puddle. That green "stuff" is probably AC system oil.

 

The civic is a 99, I wouldn't be surprised if it's just AC oil. However why would it smell so terrible? Is that common?

 

Yes. And being a 99, your car doesn't have freon.

 

brake cleaner gets that green dye/oil off. Just don't use it on a painted surface.

 

how would his car not have refrigerant? I say refrigerant because freon is a brand name, like kleenex is a brand name of facial tissue.

 

I was referring to the difference between R12 and R134a. Most people are referring to R12 when they say "Freon", and a car made in '99 would have R134a. You still shouldn't sit there and huff it or anything, but it's considerably less dangerous than R12. They're also still both bad for the atmosphere, but R12 is worse than R134a.

 

Actually, the reason behind the R's getting banned by the EPA, and or requiring a license to buy and use, is because Dupont was losing thier patent on R-12, etc. and it would have been open for another company to duplicate. Since Dupont could not have that, they made sure that the product was banned, and then they turned around with a new set of refirigerants, that were patented, but "environmetally" safe. Which of course is BS, as freon does not deplete the atmosphere - freon is actually heavier than air... as a way of comparison, sea water produces almost 1 billion times more chlorides into the upper atmosphere than freon production.

 

Hmm, that could be ramblings of a conspiracy theorist, or they could be true. You've given me something to research, thank you On the same note, remember a few years ago when they federally outlawed clove (and any other flavored or spiced) cigarette except menthol? The government was basing that on the "fact" that flavored cigarettes were the top "first cigarette" of children, which can be disproven with about 5 minutes on Google. IIRC, the top two "first cigarettes" of minors are actually marlboro lights, and Newports. The primary funding behind this law came from Philip Morris, effectively chasing out some major competition.

Regardless of interesting tangents, OP, I wouldn't worry about possibly inhaling a tiny bit of R134a..just, like I said, don't stand there huffing it.

 

Speaking of huffing... I knew a crazy hillbilly guy, that was certified for freon, commerical, cars, etc. and one time he came over to charge an older vehicle with R-12, he hooks up the manifold to the liquid line, and to the can, take the third purge line, sticks it to his mouth and says one shot for me, one for the car... I was like holy f@ck... I only think he had a couple of brain cells bouncing around, but was a nice fellow...