What does R-12 go for these days?

through our shop, the rate is $66 per pound...
which makes most want to convert to r134a as fast as they can...

 

give a look at
duracool.com
it is hydrocarbon based as well,and is supposed to chill well.

 

well,here's how we do it.
we have an indentifier that'll tell us what's in the car already.
anything but r-12 or r-134 we won't***** with it.
we HAVE to reclaim it and if it's contaminated with "drop-in"*****, we just made a 30' bottle of refrigerent worthless.

costs big $$$ to properly dispose of***** ref.


something else to be aware of is some of this***** is made with propane.
lessee, evap. leaks and you open car door, dome light switch makes car go boom,wife gets life ins. $$$

 

.02 worth from a northerner.

We haven't been able to import or produce any R-12 in Canada for years. Once our stock was depleted that was supposed to be it( outside of smuggled in containers of course, got up to a g-note for a while). To purchase any type of freon we were required to be certified in ODP...ozone depletion. Don't even ask about those certification courses...three hours in length, then handed a certificate and registration number that expired in 2 months....why? because the legislation was temperary, but they would send us updates....probably.

As it is now, we still use those same numbers to purchase 134, keep records of all freon used, tag all vehicles serviced with/without charging of systems.blahblahblah.

But here's the kicker. If your bring your car in for an A/C check-up and the tech finds a leak in the system he is required by law to purge YOUR car of refrigerant to protect the ozone layer. And don't ask for your fair market value for that freon either.

one last note on this subject.....they like to show a video at A/C clinics on propane based refrigerent. Usually results in an evaporator leak and a spark.......vehicle blows up quite well

 

I`m surprised to read that you can still buy and charge R12 openly in the U.S.I read in one of the refrigeration trade mags that came into the office at work about an American guy who imported a load of R12 into the U.S.and recieved a monster fine and jail time!
Since the Montreal protacol was signed by most of the developed world to counter the supposed ozone depletion, it has been illegal to use R12....and in this country, where they just love rules, its been enforced rigourously.

If i`m recharging an older R12 system and the guy does`nt want to upgrade to 134a system(never, they only get used during the summer months)I use R409a, a straight drop in, works fine.I believe the 134a molecule is 3 times smaller than the R12 molecule and can leak out that much easier i.e, a gas tight R12 system could leak like a sieve with R134a in it, hence all the new fittings and hoses.If you do use a blend refrigerant and you come to use it and find its short of gas...reclaim the system and fix the leak and recharge with a complete new charge of gas, as the refigerant can split(fractuate)in the system if it is left to stand and depending where the leak is on the system a partial loss can occur of one of the refrigerants used in the system/or a tiny leak will let the 134 blended bit escape but not big enough for the other component
gases to escape.

I long for the good old days of R12, R22 and R502...the back of my van now rides nearly on thr bump stops due to carrying 30 kilo kegs of 134,409,408,404.407c, 22,and a reclaim cylinder full of*****gas.

Oh yea, China and India the two fastest growing economies on the planet are exempt from the rules because they are classed as 3rd world and their industries are virtually non regulated.As a side note...the price of scrap metal has gone through the roof here as as copper tube, oil etc, as its all going to China to feed their economy....bought a Stars and Stripes flag in Orlando at Walt Disneys place and found out it was made in China...WTF!!

 

The Montreal Protocol is a fine on the industrialized first world nations - it's not enforced fairly or standardly across the world. It's a joke perpetrated by the hoax of the depletion of the ozone layer.

FWIW - it didn't outlaw R12, just the production of it - and only in 1st wold countries as reefer points out. So you had to use existing stocks & when they were gone, they were gone. That's how it's been enforced in the US at least. It probably is against the law to smuggle it in, but who's looking for freon smugglers? You're not going to bring in a semi-tractor-trailer load full of the stuff, but you might get away with a single/couple canister/s.

The ozone hole at the south pole has been documented since the early 1950s - it is a seasonal phenomenon. CFCs are several times heavier than air, so wind currents can only account for so much of it moving into the ozone. It is estimated that man has produced something on the order of 18 million tons of CFCs since their first production. Mt Pinitubo spewed approximately 30 million tons of CFCs into the upper atmosphere directly. The ozone hole is a joke. And the Montreal Protocol a crime perpetrated by those French scientists/socialists********s who believe in a classless society.

Wow...ok, a little o/t ranting, but I feel better