So my A/C doesn't work, no idea when it last worked because i have only owned it a couple of months, From looking at it, it still has the R12 system. has anybody done a conversion? what parts do you recommend? Should I just replace all the components due to unknown status? or charge it up and go for broke with what I have?

 

First if it doesn't have pressure in it would be to pull the system into vacuum and leave it there for at least an hour (I wait over night) to see if it leaks at all. If it has pressure you would want to have that recovered by a pro.

After that if you get a conversion kit it should have detailed instructions. I believe the kit I had required the system be completely cleaned out and the oil replaced with a different kind suitable for 134a. I can't say for sure because my system was too wrecked to use the kit and meantime I managed to hole my Subaru's 134a system so I repaired it and used the cans of 134a from the kit to refill the Subaru.

 

Was it a generic Kit? or vehicle specific?

 

It was a generic kit. I don't know the details any more as it was years ago. It had a can of oil, three cans of 134a, and some thread size adapters with permanent loktite. I wish we could still get the propane r12 conversion. Safer, works better, less polluting. But it's illegal now for mobile applications because fake reasons.

 

The fake reason is that somebody wasn't making money off it... Thanks for the info! I'm still waiting on my dang lift kit, so I'm not even driving it right now, but when I do, I'll have my mechanic check out the a/c compressor to see if it's any good, and pressure test the system (I don't have a way to do that).

 

Did I forget to say that the propane system costs a handful of dollars instead of a handful of hundreds of dollars? But how could money outweigh safety and environment?

 

I'd imagine a propane system would have the potential to cause a fire in the event of a front end collision.


 

And then all 20 ounces of propane would go poof and be gone in seconds. Meanwhile people are driving around with 20 gallons of gas that will burn for an hour. Also, r12 and r134 both burn as well as propane, and certain combustion situations with r12 and r134 cause toxic results that can kill in seconds. Propane refrigeration is vastly safer than the other methods that get used.

 

Propane refrigeration? as in what they use on rv refrigerators where the propane heats the ammonia?

 

Propane as the refrigerant.

 

Fair point.

 

Usually a blend of propane and isobutane, the latter keeps the head pressure in check. Such hydrocarbon refrigerants are sold commercially as a replacement for R134 under the brands Enviro-Safe and Duracool, maybe some others. I can tell you from personal experience this stuff works excellent as a drop-in replacement for old R12 AC systems. However there are some gotchas...

It is illegal at the federal level to install this stuff in an R12 AC system. (That's why the propane-based refrigerants are now labeled as R134 replacements. Originally they were advertised for R12 systems.) To be strictly legal you would have to convert the AC first to R134 and then to the propane stuff. Doesn't make any sense, but we're dealing with bureaucrats. Additionally, local regulations may make the stuff illegal, and no shop will want to work on your air conditioning, you'd have commit to servicing it yourself.

https://www.es-refrigerants.com/prod...es/details.asp

 

I was thinking there was something else in there besides propane and lubricant, but I didn't remember what. Duracool was the one I was going to use. Besides the type restrictions I think they made it illegal for mobile apps, but you could use it for your meat warehouse. Way safer than the ammonia systems. I recently watched a video (perhaps a 'plainly difficult') about a hockey place that killed several people when it sprung a leak.