#How to use ac recharge how to
#How to use ac recharge full

Step 1: Connect the ac manifold hoses to your car, in this example we will use an E30:Ĭonnect the Blue hose to the low-side shrader valve and the red hose to the high-side shrader valve. To connect the ac manifold gauges to a recharge can, you will also need a AC can tap and associated adapter to adapt the can tap to the ac manifold hose (yellow hose). You can get a kit like the below for about $100-120 from ebay/amazon that will have almost everything you need to recharge your system minus a couple parts I will note below. Wear glasses and gloves, refrigerant is very cold and you don’t want to get frost bite on your hands or eyes. Evacuating your system professionally shouldn’t cost very much the shop hooks up a machine, it pull the old refrigerant out so you are left with an empty system.

#How to use ac recharge full

This does not apply to you if you are just topping up, but if you are doing a full recharge, please have your car professionally evacuated by a shop with the appropriate equipment. It may take decades, but most AC systems leak and at one point or another will need to be topped up or recharged.īefore we start, let me be clear that in most jurisdictions it is illegal to discharge ac systems into open air. So cut out the middle-man and just connect the R-12 connectors from the ac manifolds to the r-12 connectors on your car!įourth: All AC systems leak. The below adapters are unnecessary if your ac manifold kit is able to connect to R-12 and most are able to connect to R-12, as the R-134a style connectors (which connect to the below adapters) are adapted to the R-12 connector on the AC manifold. Third: A “retro-fit” kit is not needed for an R-12 system to recharge the system with any kind of refrigerant, in fact the OEM shrader valve caps (valves used to recharge AC system) have rubber seals on them which seal far better than any retrofit kit I have ever seen. It also has a molecule size similar to that of R-134a, and will similarly leak. R-22 is incompatible with R-12 automotive compressors and will slowly destroy the seals inside of the R-12 compressor. Even though it is advertised as a direct replacement for R-12 (and R-134a, R-401A, R-401B, R-409A, R-416A, R-420A, and R-500) it is not. Second: You will also hear of R-414B also known as “Hotshot” as an acceptable replacement for R12. You will read in some places that R12a is flammable, and it is as all hydrocarbons are, however the below sums up that it is a none-issue for an AC application: In a native R12 system, no o-rings need to be changed. R12A which is the legal hydrocarbon replacement for R12 actually has a significantly larger molecule size than R12 or R134a, and therefore not only cools better, but significantly decreases leaks in the system. Switching R12 to R134a is a terrible industry practice that rakes in big money for retrofit shops. Because after the latter, even if you do change major components, you still need to change all o-rings in the system, otherwise the R134a will leak out.

Because of the former, to successfully achieve R12 temperature levels you need to change major AC components.

R134a is far less efficient than R12, and has a much smaller molecule size. These hydrocarbon based refrigerants are sold under the Duracool 12a, Red Tek R12a, Freeze 12 or similar brands. Rather it is best to use a hydrocarbon based refrigerant which is a direct replacement in R12 systems. If you have a R12 refrigerant system like the one found on the E30, your best course of action is NOT to convert to R134a. However, because new R-12 can not be manufactured, it is both hard to find and has substantially increased in price. R-12 still exists and can be bought second hand by anyone with the proper certifications.

#How to use ac recharge how to

I will as in depth as I can describe how to properly pull a vacuum on your car, how to check it for leaks, how to refill the system and which refrigerant to use.īut first, lets get some misconceptions/misinformation out of the way that you will find else where.įirst: R-12 is illegal now in most countries once it was discovered that CFC’s (like R-12) caused damage to the ozone it was outlawed. Recharging your own Air conditioning system is one of those things that seems difficult, but really is rather simple as long as you have all the correct tools and follow the correct steps.