turbokinetic
Member
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2008
Good day! I have made a couple videos of 2 expiriments I did with old car air conditioners. It is slightly off-topic because neither car is a TR. They are both GM cars with similar orifice tube / accumulator systems to the Regal.
I don't want this to get turned into a political debate or a safety debate. For some reason the topic of alterntive refrigerants usually goes that way. I don't want that. This is about the technical aspects of this particular refrigerant and the technical details of using it.
I don't have a FIRM opinon on it yet because the hottest part of the season has yet to come. In the 80's like it has been here, the HFC152a is completely adequate, but I'm interested to see how summertime goes.
The motivation behind these expiriments is the rising cost and impending phase-out of R134a. I want to find a lower-cost and/or non phase-out refrigerant gas that will work with our older cars, which is not extremely flammable. I don't care if it requires modifications, just so long as it can be done within the scope of a home shop.
I found a thread on another forum about the HFC152a refrigerant, which can be purchased for less than $4 per can, as DUSTER SPRAY at all the office stores and Wal-Mart stores. It seemed too good to be true, but the original guy is a respected forum member there, an engineer, and a certified A/C tech. So I gave it a shot.
The pressure curve for the HFC152a is very close to R12. The pressures are lower than R134a. The only down-side is, HFC152a is a light weight density compared to R12. Therefore it may take more volume flow through the system to get the same cooling. That's the part I want to verify during summertime!
The first video shows my first expiriment, with an 86 Buick Park Avenue coupe. It has a HR6 compressor and a cycling clutch / orifice tube system (CCOT) just like the Regal. The second one is another car with a V5 system. On that car, I also ecxplain the accumulator function.
Hope you guys enjoy this and it gives some ideas. I would like to hear if anyone has done similar conversions on their R4 compressor system.
One thing I always do if possible, on R134a conversions, is to replace the compressor pulley with a smaller pulley. This gives the compressor more shaft speed with the engine at idle. It helps keep the low side pressure down and the idle cooling ability up. I did change the pulley on the Park Avenue, however not on the Century. If I remember, the LC2 engine package has the smallest pulley available on the R4 compressor. That would mean you couldn't put a smaller-yet pulley on there. The second conversion (the Century) has vee-belts. It has the stock size pulley and it was working very very well. Once again, in mild weather.
Sincerely,
David
I don't want this to get turned into a political debate or a safety debate. For some reason the topic of alterntive refrigerants usually goes that way. I don't want that. This is about the technical aspects of this particular refrigerant and the technical details of using it.
I don't have a FIRM opinon on it yet because the hottest part of the season has yet to come. In the 80's like it has been here, the HFC152a is completely adequate, but I'm interested to see how summertime goes.
The motivation behind these expiriments is the rising cost and impending phase-out of R134a. I want to find a lower-cost and/or non phase-out refrigerant gas that will work with our older cars, which is not extremely flammable. I don't care if it requires modifications, just so long as it can be done within the scope of a home shop.
I found a thread on another forum about the HFC152a refrigerant, which can be purchased for less than $4 per can, as DUSTER SPRAY at all the office stores and Wal-Mart stores. It seemed too good to be true, but the original guy is a respected forum member there, an engineer, and a certified A/C tech. So I gave it a shot.
The pressure curve for the HFC152a is very close to R12. The pressures are lower than R134a. The only down-side is, HFC152a is a light weight density compared to R12. Therefore it may take more volume flow through the system to get the same cooling. That's the part I want to verify during summertime!
The first video shows my first expiriment, with an 86 Buick Park Avenue coupe. It has a HR6 compressor and a cycling clutch / orifice tube system (CCOT) just like the Regal. The second one is another car with a V5 system. On that car, I also ecxplain the accumulator function.
Hope you guys enjoy this and it gives some ideas. I would like to hear if anyone has done similar conversions on their R4 compressor system.
One thing I always do if possible, on R134a conversions, is to replace the compressor pulley with a smaller pulley. This gives the compressor more shaft speed with the engine at idle. It helps keep the low side pressure down and the idle cooling ability up. I did change the pulley on the Park Avenue, however not on the Century. If I remember, the LC2 engine package has the smallest pulley available on the R4 compressor. That would mean you couldn't put a smaller-yet pulley on there. The second conversion (the Century) has vee-belts. It has the stock size pulley and it was working very very well. Once again, in mild weather.
Sincerely,
David