Filling AC with fridge gas??? :S G

[savage1987]

Mate mentioned yesterday he can get my air con regassed with fridge gas if I need it for $25.. something about -4degC.. my guess is this is dodgy as fark and I should stay away from it, but I know nothing about the subject.

Thoughts?
Sam

[commsirac]

Best ask him what he means by fridge gas? Could be gas recovered from old fridges, could be new fridge gas. the correct amount of the correct refrigerant isnt going to cost more than $25 anyway so it would be a pointless exercise. Off course getting someone to put it in your car is what costs the money.

You can legally purchase HC refrigerants for ~$25 and put them in the system yourself.

-4C, no it wont.....your system will have safegaurds that shut the compressor off so this wont happen......and if it did happen the system would be totally ineffective as the evaporator would form a solid chunk of ice and cease to let air flow through it.

[Cheap6]

If it's the VR, it will use R134a, if it's the VN and hasn't been converted (to use R134a) it will take R12. So, yes, it depends on what 'fridge gas' means (often R22). You might swap the gas to something else (R22 say) but there may be issues with lubricant compatability or the rubber hoses as there is between some R12 systems converted to R134a. Probably not with R22 vs R12 but... It also confuses the issue for recovering the refrigerant later - which is why there was only one non-CFC replacement chosen as the standard.

[savage1987]

yep that settles it then
no idea what gas he meant or anything like that
it doesn't need a regas at the moment
if it ever does... too bad ... or i'll get proper stuff put in

cheers guys i knew nothing about this
sam