<VV> Trying again on 134A subsitute question

[craig nicol]

Grant wrote: "Trying again. I am shopping for a large canister of 134A and
notice some substitutes such as EcoFreeze that are considerably - up to 50%
- less expensive. Some come with 12 LB in a 30LB canister but are $100
compared to $150 or more for 134A for the same volume. I am checking to see
if anyone has any real life experience with them? Thanks,Grant"

Craig replies: All substitute refrigerants are blends of two, three, or more
"pure" refrigerants. (r-12 and r134a are single component "pure"
refrigerants) These substitute refrigerant combinations, when they are in
the correct proportions, function well. If you are dealing with a system
that has a small leak, or develops a small leak, the lightest component of
the blend is the one that leaks out. When you add more of the substitute,
you're adding not the light fraction that leaked off but instead you're
adding the complete balanced compound. This leaves you out of balance and
performance "inexplicably" suffers.  For this reason, manufactures of
substitutes recommend a complete sweep and refill using a full quantity of
the substitute refrigerant.

Also, recovery equipment handles only "pure" refrigerants (for much the same
reason) so shops reject vehicles with substitute refrigerants - the blend
will corrupt their equipment and tanks rendering them "technically" useless.


For these reasons, I consider substitute refrigerants "false economy" even
though they do work in an A/C system. I recommend "stepping up" to pure
134a. I have used these guys http://www.lenzdist.com/store-closed.php but
for some reason, their website is currently closed. They're in Jacksonville.
Craig Nicol