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Showing posts with the label ac recharge

Air Conditioning Best Service Practices

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Air Conditioning Best Service Practices Tried & Tested When your car or truck has an air conditioning problem and needs service, what should you do? If your A/C system only needs some refrigerant, you can probably recharge the a/c system yourself. But if you are having cooling problems, leaks or electronic control problems, you should probably seek out a repair facility that specializes in air conditioning service work. Our advice is to seek out a repair facility that is a member of MACS, the Mobile Air Conditioning Society. MACS is a non-profit trade association for repair shops that do air conditioning service work. MACS promotes training, education, professionalism, and most importantly "Best Practices" for servicing and repairing your vehicle's air conditioning system. Since 1991, MACS has assisted more than one million technicians to comply with 1990 Clean Air Act requirements for certification in refrigerant recovery and recycling to protect the...

R-1234yf Refrigerant

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R-1234yf Refrigerant For Your Car Auto makers are slowly moving toward a new refrigerant for automotive air conditioning systems. The new refrigerant is R-1234yf (HFO-1234yf), and it will be phased in slowly over time starting with some 2014 model year vehicles. R-1234yf has cooling properties that are similar to R-134a, which has been used as an automotive refrigerant since it was introduced back in 1994 to 1995 to replace R-12. R-134a contains no CFCs, which are harmful to the Earth’s protective ozone layer, but it does retain heat well and has a relatively high Global Warming Potential (GWP) rating of 1410. IMPACT ON GLOBAL WARMING Automotive refrigerants that leak out of A/C systems contribute very little to the overall global warming problem, only about 0.14% according to scientific estimates. Even so, when you multiply the millions of vehicles that are AC-equipped times even a small amount of refrigerant leakage over time, the numbers can add up. Some would argue ...

Alternative Refrigerants

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Alternative Refrigerants For Your Vehicle  As R-12 continues to disappear, the price of R-12 refrigerant continues to rise. So what do you recharge an older air conditioning system with if R-12 is unavailable? DROP-IN ALTERNATIVES FOR R-12 REFRIGERANT? Though a number of alternative refrigerants are marketed as "drop-in" replacements for R-12, there is really no such thing as a true drop-in replacement. The reason why is because Federal law prohibits the topping off A/C systems with ANY refrigerant that is chemically different from what is already in the system, unless all of the old refrigerant is first removed so the system can be converted to the alternative refrigerant. There are, however, a number of alternative refrigerants that can be used in older vehicles with R-12 A/C systems, and most have been reviewed and approved by the EPA for retrofitting older R-12 A/C systems. Approved refrigerants must meet the EPA's SNAP (Significant New Alternatives P...

How To Recharge Your Car's Air Conditioner

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 Car's Air Conditioner Recharge Procedure LOW REFRIGERANT If your air conditioner is not cooling well because the system is low on refrigerant, recharging the system with refrigerant should restore normal operation. This can usually be done with a few cans of refrigerant and a simple service hose connection. A/C RECHARGING PRECAUTIONS First, wear safety glasses to protect your eyes. Also avoid skin contact with refrigerant. The chilling effect of spilled refrigerant can cause instant frostbite on bare skin or eyes! WHAT TYPE OF REFRIGERANT? Next, you need to figure out what type of refrigerant your vehicle requires: On 1995 and newer passenger cars and light trucks, the correct refrigerant is R134a. DO NOT use any other type of refrigerant. On most 1994 and older passenger cars and light trucks, the original refrigerant was R12. R12 is no longer available to do-it-yourselfers and is very expensive. When older vehicles with R12 A/C systems need refrigerant, th...