AC R12 High Side doesn't fit R12 Manifold

[backerman]

Hi,
Have a Camry 1992 V6. Have bought a R12 Robinair manifold. Hose can be connected to the AC low side without a problem but not the high side.
The high side valve seems a bit smaller. What do I need to connect the R12 manifold hose to the AC high side?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[BamZipPow]

Are you sure you have R12 in yer system? BTW...you can't just stuff R12 in yer system and have it work better... Having said that...

http://www.robinair.com/ Contact them fer an adapter...

I guess you could just git a loaner gauge set from AutoZone and see if their set has the proper adapter.

[backerman]

BamZipPow,
yes, my system is still the old R12. Good idea with Autozone.
Does anyone else have an idea what adapter I would need?

[Stillrunning]

http://www.es-refrigerants.com/produ...er/details.asp

This is an adapter available from the Enviro-Safe web site. Can the R12 (expensive ozone killer) and convert to Enviro-safe (industrial if you want really cold) as I did. My system operates as cold as or better than R12 with none of the issues of R134.

[backerman]

StillRunning,

thanks so much for the help. Really appreciated!!!
After some additional research I found this website:
http://www.aa1car.com/library/ac_recharging.htm

The picture shows that the high side has a 3/8" fitting and the low side has a 7/16" fitting.
Since I want to connect to the high side it seems that I need a 3/8" not the 7/16". Is that correct? What do you think?

Every help from anyone greatly appreciated!!!

[TedL]

If there's a United Refrigeration near you, you should be able to walk in and buy an "automotive high side adapter" like this:

http://www.acsource.com/highsideadapterstraight.aspx

You should very seriously consider all relevant info before using a refrigerant other than R-12 or R-134a. They have many drawbacks, which is the reason no auto manufacturer has adopted them. (Better and cheaper, but ignored by the entire industry, including Hyundai & Kia?????? Think about it.)

[Stillrunning]

Originally Posted by TedL

You should very seriously consider all relevant info before using a refrigerant other than R-12 or R-134a. They have many drawbacks, which is the reason no auto manufacturer has adopted them.

I would use 134a but R12 systems are not robust enough to make it work well. I tried 134a in other vehicles but struggled with leaks and poor performance. The Enviro-Safe is as good or better than R12 and after a year with it in a 92 vehicle I own I can say it was a good choice. I will say that my 95 Camry with 134a is the coldest vehicle I have and has great A/C.

[TedL]

R-12 has come back down in price. There's no longer any reason to move away from the the "gold standard", used by every auto manufacturer until they were persuaded by legislation to change.

[Stillrunning]

Originally Posted by TedL

There's no longer any reason to move away from the the "gold standard", used by every auto manufacturer until they were persuaded by legislation to change.

No, just the protection of the ozone layer, unless Rush Limbaugh is your atmospheric scientist.

[TedL]

Originally Posted by Stillrunning

No, just the protection of the ozone layer, unless Rush Limbaugh is your atmospheric scientist.

Another example of a little knowledge leading to decisions that are...poor. The R-12 supply in the US has effectively been cut off. They're not making any more; haven't been for years. What's available is either old stock (that's not going to just magically disappear), or recovered & recycled. The decision to stay with R-12 in a given vehicle will not cause any more to be produced, nor make any disappear. It will merely change location.

However, if I were choosing an atmospheric scientist to listen to, I would choose Limbaugh ahead of Gore. Much less hypocrisy than Bigfoot Al, who preaches one thing for the common folk like us, but does something different in his mansion and private aircraft. And looks to make money from that which he promotes, allegedly on principal.

I dislike the certainty that's characteristic of the truly ignorant, closed mind.

[ajkalian]

Well I'm not a scientist, but here are just some of my observations.

The weather started to get warmer and I new it was going to get hot soon so I thought I'd check to see if my home Air Conditioner was working after sitting all winter. Better to get it charged or serviced before the hot weather hit and everybody else had the same idea.

I turned it on and it worked fine, after sitting for 6 months. That meant that all of the Freon in the system was still in the system and still under pressure. Then I got to thinking, if my Air Conditioner didn’t leak, and most didn’t then how do Chlorofluorocarbons get out into the atmosphere to deplete the Ozone layer that everybody is so worried about.

Being a matter of fact guy, I thought I’d look at it step by step. DuPont or whoever produces the Freon, or whatever they call it now, does it by the ton, probably thousand of tons. Now to the best of my knowledge it is shipped pressurized. Kind of like the propane that you get for your home barbecue. So it seems to me that Dupont would take every effort to see that their tanks, or tank cars don’t leak. Because if they did, when the tanks get to their customers they would be empty, and nobody is going to pay for an empty tank of anything. That would be stupid.

So let’s say DuPont is shipping a tank car to General Motors to put in their cars Air Conditioning systems. DuPont has done a good job of producing and storing the Freon and General Motors offloads it to one of their on site storage facilities awaiting new cars to come off the assembly line and to have their Air Conditioning systems charged and delivered to their customers. Ask yourself if General Motors is going to allow any leaks in the storage system. Probably not because all the Freon would escape and there would be nothing to put into the cars Air Conditioning systems. And that would be stupid, and costly.

Maybe it leaks out after they put it in the cars. Probably not, because when the customer takes his brand new car for a ride they will probably demand that the Air Conditioner work. They probably won’t buy the argument that they leak all the time, that’s what depletes the Ozone layer. No that would be stupid. Nobody would take delivery of any brand new car where the Air Conditioner didn’t work, or only worked for a day or two because all of the Freon leaked out.

Maybe it’s the commercial Air Conditioning systems like the ones installed in office buildings. No, because if all the Freon leaked out of the building’s Air Conditioning system, then you would expect that the Building Management would be all over the Air Conditioning contractor that installed the system because it would become unbearably hot in the building.

Maybe it is the contractors that install the commercial systems. Maybe their tanks leak. No, because if the commercial contractors Freon storage systems leaked, they would not be able to charge the systems installed in the office buildings.

Maybe it’s the homeowner like myself that all the leaks come from. Probably not, since mine didn’t leak and I expect most others didn’t either. A dead giveaway that I had a leak would be that my Air Conditioning system didn’t work. In order to get it to work I would have to call an Air Conditioner Service Company to come out and fix it. No Service Tech in his right mind would attempt to refill a system that has leaked. That would be stupid. They would charge you to find, and fix the leak before they would even consider re-filling the system.

So you have to ask yourself, where do all the Chlorofluorocarbons come from that are depleting the Ozone layer on a Global Scale.

Hmmmm, I wondered that too.

[TedL]

Well, they are released to the atmosphere by faulty refrigeration equipment containing them, including automotive systems. In the past, they were used as propellants, in everything from paints to hair spray to deodorants. In the past, refrigerant recovery was not done. Old automotive procedure was to release system contents to the atmosphere, and when finished changing parts, run a "sweep charge" and release it as well.

Now, all refrigerant must be recovered, including R-134a, under penalty of very large fines. After recovering it, you may celebrate by blowing one of the annoying boat horns which works by releasing R-134a (legally), and then sit down and clean the dust from your computer keyboard, using the "canned air" duster that's also pure R-134a. Why the differing treatment? No reason.

[BMR]

ajkalian - No offense, but it's not that simple. Automotive AC systems characteristically leak a few % per year. Even ones that are not "defective". Even new hoses and fittings have minor leaks. R12 also diffuses *through* elastomeric hose materials. R134a is worse for that because the molecule chains are shorter.

Anecdotally: I've had to add R12 to my Camry 3X over its life. Three 12 oz cans. It's normal. I've never owned a vehicle yet that didn't do that.

[ajkalian]

Originally Posted by BMR

ajkalian - No offense, but it's not that simple. Automotive AC systems characteristically leak a few % per year. Even ones that are not "defective". Even new hoses and fittings have minor leaks. R12 also diffuses *through* elastomeric hose materials. R134a is worse for that because the molecule chains are shorter.

Anecdotally: I've had to add R12 to my Camry 3X over its life. Three 12 oz cans. It's normal. I've never owned a vehicle yet that didn't do that.

BMR, no offense taken. And I realize that there is a percentage loss, although it has to be very small, because if it were constant then over time none of the air conditioning systems would work. I for one, have never replaced the freon, or whatever it's called in my car, and it's a 2000, and blows cold. I'm sure if I took it into some AC place they would say I might be a bit low, and that would make sense.

What I'm talking about it the hysteria that the Earth's atmosphere is going to be somehow destroyed from just leaks. Seems to me to be just unrealistic, since it is in everybody's interest to see that there are no leaks.

sorry if I hijacked this thread, I didn't mean to.


.

[TedL]

Originally Posted by ajkalian

What I'm talking about it the hysteria that the Earth's atmosphere is going to be somehow destroyed from just leaks. Seems to me to be just unrealistic, since it is in everybody's interest to see that there are no leaks.
.

A reasonable person! Elimination of R-12's use as a propellant and requirements to recover (rather than release) would have achieved any necessary reduction to achieve the real environmental goals. But just like the schools with various "zero tolerance" policies (e.g., a picture of a gun is treated the same as a real, loaded Uzi; a Midol is treated the same a a kilo of cocaine), lack of sanity or reason prevails.