Thread: A/C Refrigerant

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I did a site search and came up, surprisingly, with a blank. Sometime in the near future, I will have all of my car in the same place - that is, on its wheels and ready to go. The car has A/C (yeah, it's a roadster, but.....) and I will need to charge the A/C. The system is set up for 134A refrigerant, but the price of this stuff per 12 oz. can is starting to resemble the national debt. I have heard and have done some minimal research on Duracool which is supposed to be much better than 134A, and even a bit better than R12. While I generally don't mind being a guinea pig for a new product, this, if it destroys my expen$ive new Vintage A/C system, I will be thoroughly p*##@d off.

This finally brings me to why I started this thread - does anyone have any experience with this stuff? And if so, how much of a problem was it, if at all? Duracool's website says that it cure all cooling evils, but I have learned that selling bridges in Brooklyn and land in Florida can be chancy at best, and vendor protestations of how good a product is falls in that category

What I've heard about Duracool has not been good. I believe I'd run it by Vintage Air and see what they have to say. The 12/13 oz cans are selling for 8 to 12 bucks here. I just changed my '91 Dakota over to R-134 and it cost me about $60, but I also replaced the drier and metering valve since it had been a R-12 system.

like NTFDAY said 134A is less than 10.00 a can and you need about 3 cans for a average charge, how much cheaper can it get???????

Originally Posted by DennyW

((Its a propane/butane mix, bigger molecules so less prone to squeeze out. I don't see a down side.))

That's a good one.

i read not long ago that some people were using propane in their AC and blew the car up, but you can't believe everything you read.

Originally Posted by lt1s10

like NTFDAY said 134A is less than 10.00 a can and you need about 3 cans for a average charge, how much cheaper can it get???????

I think I mislead some of you as far as worrying about price. Like I said, the car is a roadster(see the AVATAR), 134A is not particularly good as far as cooling at about 50 - 60% efficiancy of R12. I'm more interested in cooling capabilities and if the Duracool is supposed to be so good, what will it do to my A/C system. While I will be passing it by Vintage, I'm more interested in "REAL LIFE" experience, not on a vendor who might (or might not) have some sort of vested interest in 134A. Additionally, have also read that 134A will be going the way of R12 in the next few years which is one reason for the price spike.

As far as propane/butane mixture - who cares - a cup of gasoline has about the energy of a stick of dynamite and a 15 gallon gas tank will make a heluva mess compared to a couple of pounds of refrigerant

[QUOTE=Irelands child] 134A is not particularly good as far as cooling at about 50 - 60% efficiancy of R12. QUOTE]

That's correct if you're retrofitting an R12 system, but if the system was designed for R134 and yours is, the major draw back is that R134 operates at higher pressures making hoses designed for R12 a little suspect.

in real life, 134A works just fine. i don't know where you got this 50% stuff from, but if my cars cooled any better it would be a waste of cold.

Propane will only blow if it's mixed with the right amount of air. Sure it will burn, but guess what? So will R134a, or R12. Three ounces of propane will hardly make a smell before it dissipates, and no environment damage like 134. BTW, I have used straight propane to purge and test AC's, before I had access to a vacuum unit, and never had any problems. Don't believe all the alarmist propaganda you see.

I use Duracool in everything, trucks, tractor, combine, car. Works great, less pressure, less leaks, cheaper. Its a propane/butane mix, bigger molecules so less prone to squeeze out. I don't see a down side.

Originally Posted by R Pope

I use Duracool in everything, trucks, tractor, combine, car. Works great, less pressure, less leaks, cheaper. Its a propane/butane mix, bigger molecules so less prone to squeeze out. I don't see a down side.

Can you say BOOM!

Of course theres another product out there called Freeze 12. Its a direct replacement for R12. A Refrigeration buddy of mine is running it in his cars and his house!

http://www.freeze12.com/