My father in law is a retired research engineer and has several large canisters of r-12 he is looking to properly sell. Are any vendors who service cars interested in purchasing the R-12? PM me off the thread, thanks
Location: San Antonio
Posts: 266
My VIN: 5628
My father in law is a retired research engineer and has several large canisters of r-12 he is looking to properly sell. Are any vendors who service cars interested in purchasing the R-12? PM me off the thread, thanks
Posts: 20
As far as being licensed - check your state but most no longer care if Joe Schmo buys R-12. They only cared when lobbyists were being paid by DuPont to pay congressmen to demonize it. Remember 'the hole in the Ozone caused by R-12'? That whole affair was a ruse setup by the same people who invented Freon to regain their control of their monopoly on refrigerant. (The short version; DuPont's chemical was no longer under patent and everybody and his brother was producing it or a variant of it. They came up with R134a, then paid the government to publicly destroy and legislate R-12 into the grave. The competition goes under and DuPont has a shiny new monopoly again for 20 years on something every human uses. Cha-ching!)
R-12 was better in several ways; the molecules were nice, fat and stable and you could have a sealed system that would hold a charge nearly forever. R134a is so small it leeches through the rubber hoses and therefore there is no such thing as a sealed R134a system on any car, new, old or otherwise. You ever wonder why your 2-year-old Mercedes needed to have the AC system 'topped off'? Now you know. R-12 gets about 10 degrees colder at the vent than R-134a, runs compressors 20-50 degrees cooler causing less premature failure and it never actually did anything to the environment. It's only crime was to be in the public domain.
The long term effect of unregulated R134a use has yet to be evaluated. No one will care until again until DuPont's starts to lose the refrigerant game again.
I am licensed to use R-12 and have the equipment (which paid for itself during the conversion panic when R-12 was $300 a pound). The ASE licensing procedure was laughably idiotic and once I had a license it turned out just to be my social security number. As with any refrigerant, you only really get in trouble if you get caught mishandling it and that's only if you have a deep pocket. It'd be on-par with getting caught dumping oil down a storm drain. There is no record keeping or care about who buys or controls it (at least, not in this state). It's still in heavy use by Disney and several airlines still using 70's and 80's era planes.
If anybody still has an original AC DMC you should buy what he's selling and keep it original. They don't make AC systems that good anymore and your car will love you for it!
Last edited by Galt; 06-13-2015 at 07:50 PM.
Agree with you 100%.
R134a may be ozone safe but the gas was not a legit enviromental replacement. Global warming effects of the gas are still vast.
Last edited by zimvsdib; 06-14-2015 at 05:08 AM.
Location: San Antonio
Posts: 266
My VIN: 5628
The license statements are at his request. I can provide his contact info if you wish to talk to him.
Location: Orlando, Florida
Posts: 2,734
My VIN: 01643
Club(s): (DCF) (DCO) (DCUK)
Location: Lansing, MI
Posts: 490
My VIN: 04194: 5-Speed, Black Int, 79 Peugeot 604 Manifold, 05052: 5-Speed, Gray Int, 78 Peugeot 604 manifol
The EPA 609 certification can be obtained online. From what I recall I spent $15.00 to take the online, open-book test back in 2009. The certification is valid for life. I can post the link if anyone would like, but if you Google "online EPA 609 certification" you should find the webpage without too much difficulty.
I've always been a fan of R-12, but due to a limited supply and cost, I converted 5052 to 134a and get consistent vent temps in the low 40s with a otherwise stock system.
Andrew
4194 Since 7/98
5052 Since 7/14
1972 Buick Riviera
1974 Bricklin SV-1 177
1982 AMC Eagle SX/4 (4.2 I6, 4 Speed)
1983 Pontiac Trans Am (Knight Rider Conversion in progress)
1985 Oldsmobile Toronado (daily driver)
Solex carb and antenna television guru.
"My carbon footprint is bigger than yours!" :-)