Do I restore my AC or?

[fast 99]

Many old compressor front seals were designed to leak. Recharges were a fairly common yearly maintenance item. Can't blame the backyard mechanic on this one. Back in the day R12 cost $1 a can. Customers wouldn't fix anything if system held a charge for the season. I stood in basically one place for days at a time recharging AC, $20 labor $20 refrigerant.

Banning R12 was and still is a joke. Now they want to ban 134A. In this state can't buy 1lb cans and need certification to buy 30#.

 

[AuroraGirl]

There will be plenty of opposition to this:

I used to think that recharging A/C would be difficult and require a bunch of skills, and fancy tools and gauges.

Nope.

I have recharged A/C systems many many times, using R12 and 134A.

I have never used the gauges that measure the high and low pressure side. Never vacuumed out the oil oil or air from the system. Some people are appalled by this, saying that I MUST get the air out of the system and that I must used the fancy gauges.

Others can say what they want, and I will say what I want. You read all the posts and decide for yourself.

Cost to recharge system: $20.
Time needed to recharge system: 10 minutes.

I have used the same procedure on dozens and dozens of cars and this was the result:

Pump cycles on and off properly - just the way it was designed to.
Very cold air comes out of the vents.
System never has any problems and continues to work properly for years.


First fix the leak.

This is how simple it is to recharge it:

moisture in r12 WILL (not maybe, WILL) destroy the system

 

[AuroraGirl]

Many old compressor front seals were designed to leak. Recharges were a fairly common yearly maintenance item. Can't blame the backyard mechanic on this one. Back in the day R12 cost $1 a can. Customers wouldn't fix anything if system held a charge for the season. I stood in basically one place for days at a time recharging AC, $20 labor $20 refrigerant.

Banning R12 was and still is a joke. Now they want to ban 134A. In this state can't buy 1lb cans and need certification to buy 30#.

i mean.. the hole in the ozone was real, and not having it now is cool. maybe you could argue we are over-enforcing the sale/use considering its healthy now, but reducing CFCs lost helped fix it

 

[edgephoto]

If the hack method works for you, keep doing it. It is totally wrong and half assed but it is your vehicle not mine.

You are not vacuuming oil, you are boiling water out of the system and pulling air out of the system.

When I learned A/C in the mid-80s we were taught to drain the system by sticking the hose in a bucket and letting the charge out. The bucket was to catch oil. If the system had a charge and was only open for a short time we would just "purge" the system instead of pulling a vacuum. Just blow a couple pounds of refrigerant through the system. We flushed using R11 because it was liquid at room temp. We used a dial-charge to get the correct amount, purging off the gas. We used a propane torch to find leaks.

The good old days!