AC Help

brday · 05-10-2005, 10:03 AM

I stumbled across an ad in a Porsche magazine about a month ago advertising a refrigerant called HC-12A that claims to be a direct replacement for R12 and does not require a conversion to R134. The vendor is Fox Tool Supply at www.foxtoolsupply.com. As my AC blows NO cold air whatsoever, I thought it might be worth a shot.

Anybody tried this?

BrDay
'86 Carrera Cab

scottb · 05-10-2005, 10:06 AM

BrDay: I see this is your first post. Here's some advice...

Look in the upper right corner of your screen. You'll see a button labeled "search." Use it, and 9 times out of 10, you'll get your information. The great H12a v. R12 v. R134a debate has raged on in many-a-thread, and I'm sure you'll find all the information you need.

Welcome to our world.

Oh, by the way, it's traditional that your first post include pictures of your car. So, let's see the beast (or the beauty)!

Scott

brday · 05-10-2005, 10:15 AM

Aw, pegged me as a newbie eh?

Bought the 911 last September. After storing for the winter (I live in Massachusetts) I just got it back out in late-March as my daily driver. Need to take a new picture and will post ASAP.

Thanks for the hint - I'll do the search.

Tim Hancock · 05-10-2005, 10:32 AM

I wondered about that stuff too. It would be nice to here what the latest concensus is. There has been alot of debate with many conflicting ideas
about what works and what doesn't. I can't help wonder what the facts are. (a couple of years ago many said you had to convert a bunch of stuff (hoses, o-rngs, oil) to run 134 in an r-12 system yet I switched over a Bimmer only changing the fittings and the drier 3 yrs ago and it still works great w/out recharging.) I think alot of mis-information is out there depending on who you ask.

brday · 05-10-2005, 10:50 AM

At the advice of Scott below, I did a search. There was a great thread last summer that was right on point. My only problem is that the guy that does the work on the car for me (the stuff I can't do myself) is hesitant to introduce something into his A/C equipment that he doesn;t know about.

BTW, here is the photo that I neglected to attach the the first post. Apologies for the rookie mistake - won't happen again!

scottb · 05-10-2005, 10:58 AM

Have your mechanic go to the fox tool website. I just looked at it, and there's a wealth of information. The problem with this type of refrigerant is not so much what happens when you introduce it, the problem is when you need to recover it to perform maintenance on your system. Many (most) a/c shops will not recover a system that has HC12 mixed in with R12. They don't want to contaminate the R12 they've recovered. So, you're pretty much on your own if you have to do maintenance. On the other hand, if your system is completely empty of R12, and if the foxtoolsupply.com claims about HC12 being environmentally friendly are true, apparently you may be able to release HC12 into the atmosphere. I don't know this for a fact, though, and you should confirm with a knowledgeable source.

Let us know what you decide to do! Good luck.

brcorp · brcorp's Garage

Welcome Brday, nice car.

See the attached links:

http://www.epa.gov/Ozone/snap/refrigerants/buying.html

http://www.autoacforum.com/messageview.cfm?catid=20&threadid=9171

ruf-porsche · ruf-porsche's Garage

I think the EPA is against the release of any type of refrigerant into the atmosphere.

Hell they probably fine you one day for farting.

rfuerst911sc · 05-10-2005, 02:33 PM

I recently converted my 83SC to the HC12A that Fox sells and it works great. I am a DIYer so I had no concerns of recovery so it was a no brainer. I have been running it for about 3 months now ( it's hot in Fl. year round ) and it cools great and is relatively cheap.

88911coupe · 05-10-2005, 02:34 PM

I've been using it in my '88 for over a year and it seems to work fine...certainly as good as the R12 that was in there. I have done nothing to boost the ac performance such as larger condensor, better evaporator, etc. I purchased it from Fox Tool.

david914 · 05-10-2005, 03:27 PM

Purchased mine from Fox Tool a couple of years ago. Works better than the R-12 that was in there. I did the job myself, so no issues there. Like the others have said, it's not an issue of the whether or not the HC-12A works (it works very well!) it's more of an issue with contamination of your wrench's equipment. If you DIY or have a wrench that works with HC-12A, no problem.

brday · 05-10-2005, 06:18 PM

Thanks. I'll buy the HC-12 and give it a shot. At $129 for 30 lbs., it's a lot cheaper than a 134 conversion.