[alfa] Re: Air conditioning question (not Alfa specific)

[Sonny <maxid@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Santech is a Forth Worth - based company that delivers replacement parts for
the automotive air conditioning business. They don't seem to have a vested
interest in any particular refrigerant.

A research report of theirs states:

"Many new alternate refrigerants have been listed as acceptable or pending by
the EPA for use in mobile air conditioning systems. The EPA does not look at
the function or performance of the new refrigerants. The EPA lists
refrigerants based only on environmental and safety concerns. Very little is
known on the short-term and long-term effect of these new alternatives on
system elastomers and system components yet we have seen an increasing number
of installations using these materials. Field reports range from utopia to
massive failures. The goal of this test was to develop information on how
Santechs materials perform with the new alternative refrigerants.

R134a and PAG appears to be the best solution for retrofits where elastomer
compatibility
is taken into account."

The full report is available at
http://www.santech.com/reference

Also an A/C shop here informed me that the fittings used for non-R-12,
non-R-134a refrigerants are not standardized and I would have a hard time
finding someone who would work on my system if I went with another
refrigerant.

Now, I would like to hear from anyone who has been recommended to go with an
alternative refrigerant by a specialized A/C shop.

Sanden, a leading OEM A/C manufacturer (no relation to Santech), concedes that
the refrigerant performance of a R-12 system retrofitted to R-134a may be
slightly diminished. As a solution, they propose a larger condenser, an
auxilliary fan, or both.

From what I know, a system converted to R-134a needs less refrigerant than if
it was still running on R-12. In addition, with R-134a it seems to be
especially difficult to gauge how much charge is in the system, which may lead
to overcharging and subpar performance.

Sonny
'91 164S (converted to R-134a by p.o.)
'90 Toyota Celica Turbo All-Trac (in the shop for a R-134a conversion)
Baltimore
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