I have been doing research on air conditioning in my spare time. All 5
minutes of it.
This is sort of a work in progress, and you'll need to decide for yourself
if there is info in this message that interests you. No warranty expressed
or implied, if you know what I mean.
Our first stop is at the EPA. There is quite a bit of material on this
subject and you may have to do some digging. Here's a start. If you are
using AOL, I don't know if you can see Adobe Acrobat files, but you can save
them and then open them after you get a viewer at www.adobe.com
EPA regs at www.epa.gov/ozone/title6/snap/612frm4.pdf
This gives you the background on the EPA's rules. See also
http://www.epa.gov/ozone/title6/snap/macssubs.html
which you can see on the web and lists EPA approved substitutes.
This lead me to the home page below with info and several links of
www.autofrost.com which looked very promising.
If you're interested you can also do a search on R406a on the Internet and
pick up some discussions that George Gobel (the inventor of R406) had
regarding the
use of R406a.
He considers R406A a "drop-in" substitute, meaning no mods required.
EPA won't let him say that though. Look at his test results, particularly
with regard to oil compatibility.
One of the factors is that all of these substitutes are blends of other CFCs
and other similar stuff. So what that means is the EPA would like to ban
all of them too. But not just yet. They intend to allow these substitutes
to remain in production and available for as long as R12 stuff is around
(till 2009 if I remember).
At that time only R134a will be around (unless they discover some more good
stuff). As a result the auto manufacturers do not intend to use any of
these replacements but will stick with R134a. So availability will be
limited to just the replacement market (and to the licensed techs only) and
thus the stuff will probably be somewhat hard to locate.
I suggest that you call the toll free number to Monroe Air Tech (on the
Autofrost home page) and
find out about delivery and cost. I think that its about $10 a pound (from
what I know today) You only have to use 80% of the amount of R12 called for.
I have also found out that you can take a section 609 (automotive) test and
be certified to buy R406A. The study guide and the test are on the Internet
at http://www.epatest.com/. It will cost you $20 and you can buy one pound
cans of R406A.
The alternative, the MACS test is much more expensive. Testing probably
isn't for everyone, but I'll pass this info along as this group is very much
do-it-yourself.
I also picked up a catalog from Acme Air conditioning. They have some
evaporators that look promising for rear mounting. They have a web site, but
it's empty. I'll post what I've got on their stuff later this week....
Mark
minutes of it.
This is sort of a work in progress, and you'll need to decide for yourself
if there is info in this message that interests you. No warranty expressed
or implied, if you know what I mean.
Our first stop is at the EPA. There is quite a bit of material on this
subject and you may have to do some digging. Here's a start. If you are
using AOL, I don't know if you can see Adobe Acrobat files, but you can save
them and then open them after you get a viewer at www.adobe.com
EPA regs at www.epa.gov/ozone/title6/snap/612frm4.pdf
This gives you the background on the EPA's rules. See also
http://www.epa.gov/ozone/title6/snap/macssubs.html
which you can see on the web and lists EPA approved substitutes.
This lead me to the home page below with info and several links of
www.autofrost.com which looked very promising.
If you're interested you can also do a search on R406a on the Internet and
pick up some discussions that George Gobel (the inventor of R406) had
regarding the
use of R406a.
He considers R406A a "drop-in" substitute, meaning no mods required.
EPA won't let him say that though. Look at his test results, particularly
with regard to oil compatibility.
One of the factors is that all of these substitutes are blends of other CFCs
and other similar stuff. So what that means is the EPA would like to ban
all of them too. But not just yet. They intend to allow these substitutes
to remain in production and available for as long as R12 stuff is around
(till 2009 if I remember).
At that time only R134a will be around (unless they discover some more good
stuff). As a result the auto manufacturers do not intend to use any of
these replacements but will stick with R134a. So availability will be
limited to just the replacement market (and to the licensed techs only) and
thus the stuff will probably be somewhat hard to locate.
I suggest that you call the toll free number to Monroe Air Tech (on the
Autofrost home page) and
find out about delivery and cost. I think that its about $10 a pound (from
what I know today) You only have to use 80% of the amount of R12 called for.
I have also found out that you can take a section 609 (automotive) test and
be certified to buy R406A. The study guide and the test are on the Internet
at http://www.epatest.com/. It will cost you $20 and you can buy one pound
cans of R406A.
The alternative, the MACS test is much more expensive. Testing probably
isn't for everyone, but I'll pass this info along as this group is very much
do-it-yourself.
I also picked up a catalog from Acme Air conditioning. They have some
evaporators that look promising for rear mounting. They have a web site, but
it's empty. I'll post what I've got on their stuff later this week....
Mark
wner-gmcmotorhome]On Behalf Of 
