Thread: Regassing county aircon?

Originally Posted by isuzurover

Who has regassed their county/rrc aircon? I only recently got my fan/blower fixed, so can only now verify that the aircon blows hot air - eveything switches on and seems to work as it should though.

Last time it was regassed was still in the days of R12. What is involved with changing to R134a??? And any recommended air con places in or near perth?

Changing to R134a is a pain in the bum, and in most cases quite expensive.

If your lucky and don't have to change the compressor, the TX valve and the condenser - and you would have to be VERY lucky indeed to get away with it.

You would still have to remove the compressor, drain all the old oil, have the complete system flushed, change all the o rings, replace the reciever drier (should be changed normally anyway).

However you could always take the easier route - and get better performance than seen with R134a - and change to hydrocarbon refrigerant.

Yes it's flammable - but so is petrol, diesel, engine oil, brake fluid etc., - but a typical car will use just 250 - 300 gramms of the stuff - (equiv to less than half a ltr) and you have 60 - 100 ltrs of fuel in your petrol tank - hardly relevant

.................and guess what - apart from changing the filter drier (about $30.00) nothing else needs changing - same oil, same tx valve, same condenser.

If you want to find out how to charge with HC's just pm me, and I'll point you in the right direction.

Ladas

Originally Posted by ladas

Changing to R134a is a pain in the bum, and in most cases quite expensive.

If your lucky and don't have to change the compressor, the TX valve and the condenser - and you would have to be VERY lucky indeed to get away with it.

You would still have to remove the compressor, drain all the old oil, have the complete system flushed, change all the o rings, replace the reciever drier (should be changed normally anyway).

However you could always take the easier route - and get better performance than seen with R134a - and change to hydrocarbon refrigerant.

Yes it's flammable - but so is petrol, diesel, engine oil, brake fluid etc., - but a typical car will use just 250 - 300 gramms of the stuff - (equiv to less than half a ltr) and you have 60 - 100 ltrs of fuel in your petrol tank - hardly relevant

.................and guess what - apart from changing the filter drier (about $30.00) nothing else needs changing - same oil, same tx valve, same condenser.

If you want to find out how to charge with HC's just pm me, and I'll point you in the right direction.

Ladas

Propane ????????? sounds like the go

Originally Posted by crossy

Propane ????????? sounds like the go

No, but almost - a very carefull blend of propane and iso-butane (refrigerant quality = 99.5% purity)

I done my own A/c as we have a machine at work, just got 2 right angle
R134a adapters and filled it with gas until the pressures looked right,
That was two years ago and it's still very cold.

I know its not the right (or legal) way but it was cheap and worked well.

Hydrocarbon is the way to go. Did you know that it is legal is some states. It is some thing to with the Airconditioning association.

My dad regassed his with hydrocarbon and it works really well. Also with the hot air problem make sure the flaps are working as they should and the heater water actually turns off. The aircon blows through or past the heater and it the water doesn't stop it just reheats your cold air. Some people put a tap in the line to the heater and just turn it back on when the weather gets cold.

Originally Posted by wovenrovings

Hydrocarbon is the way to go. Did you know that it is legal is some states. It is some thing to with the Airconditioning association.

It's actually legal in ALL states in Australia - but in Queensland you have to get approval from the Gas Examiners Office - but they won't give it to individuals.

For a while it was banned in NSW - but from pressure within our industry the Clause (242) was repealled in early 2005 when DellaBosca was in the seat for that sort of thing.

Originally Posted by wovenrovings

Hydrocarbon is the way to go. Did you know that it is legal is some states. It is some thing to with the Airconditioning association.

My dad regassed his with hydrocarbon and it works really well. Also with the hot air problem make sure the flaps are working as they should and the heater water actually turns off. The aircon blows through or past the heater and it the water doesn't stop it just reheats your cold air. Some people put a tap in the line to the heater and just turn it back on when the weather gets cold.

Having just stripped my County"s heater box there is a flap that diverts the air either into the heater matrix or the aircon matrix.
It has a crap piece of foam strip, but even if this is tatty, it would seal 98% as the air flows over it in the direction it lays down.
There would, however, be latent heat near the aircon matrix which you don't want.
( anybody want an aircon matrix with a drill hole thru one of the copper tubes?)

Originally Posted by DeeJay

Having just stripped my County"s heater box there is a flap that diverts the air either into the heater matrix or the aircon matrix.
It has a crap piece of foam strip, but even if this is tatty, it would seal 98% as the air flows over it in the direction it lays down.
There would, however, be latent heat near the aircon matrix which you don't want.
( anybody want an aircon matrix with a drill hole thru one of the copper tubes?)

Thanks guys - great help. Deejay - where exactly is this flap? I have found the flap which switches between fresh and recirculated air, but where is the one you mention? The heater valve is a bit of a silly design for Australia, when it is not supplied with vacuum it is open, and only closes when supplied with vacuum. Is this valve the same?

Ladas, hydrocarbon sounds like the way to go - any help you can offer would be great.