Coolant for A/C Retro fitting, to my understanding, means exchanging r12 with 134a (or whatever)…so, my question is, can i myself buy a new compressor for r12 and fill it with 134a and save myself a buttload of money? Are there web instructions for this anywhere?
You really aren’t supposed to do that. The old R12 has to be disposed of in a very specific way and you’ll be paying an enormous fine if you’re caught dumping old refrigerant down the drain. It’s more trouble than it’s worth.
Haj
What are the fines for violating the laws of physics? Freon is a gas at room temperature and pressure.
That said, there are A/C discussion boards out there. Unfortunately, I don’t have any links. For what it’s worth, if you have a good compressor, you may be able to drain the old oil (which has R-12 diffused into it), flush and evacuate the system and refill with new oil and R-134.
…And that said, a lot of places advertise this service for about the cost of a few cans of R-12. They also handle the R-12 recovery so the stuff doesn’t escape. You might want to have them evacuate the system, then troubleshoot it yourself.
I’m not sure I understand but from what I know you can just use r134 instead of r12 with r134 oil (the old 12 oil stays in the system and just floats above the 134 oil - the 2 actually can’t mix). You use the same compressor.
So yes you can use 134 w/ a new r12 compressor but unless you actually need the new compressor you don’t have to replace it.
cooling efficency will decrease w/ 134 though.
there is no disposal problem except for venting r-12