On Tue, 05 Aug 2003 00:16:01 GMT, "Carl Ijames"
wrote:

We looked at Freeze12 and several other 'drop-in replacements' for
R-12. None were acceptable to us because of notably increased health
hazards and/or flammability.

Did you look at R414B? Similar to R406A but that is hard to get locally. A
friend has used a lot of both in R12 auto systems and is really satisfied.
A little pricey, about $275 for 25 lbs, but cools better than R12, works
fine with mineral oil (that's my biggest concern with Freeze-12, from the
composition I'm skeptical about oil solubility and another friend at a parts
store told me that FourSeasons and the other compressor manufacturers that
they carry won't warranty their stuff with Freeze-12 but he didn't know
why). Also, propane is a close match for R22, not R12; a mix of propane and
isobutane is a good match for R12 but it's flammable and not approved by the
EPA; it used to be sold as OZ-12 and something else that you may be
confusing with Freeze-12 which is a mix of R134A and R14something :-).

Yes, we've looked at all the known 'drop-in' R-12 replacements, and
found them wanting in one or more ways.

They either had propane as a component or had a really ugly glide.

R-134a is bad enough in the glide department, don't see the sense in
adding propane to the equation.

The key, as you noted, is what the compressor manufacturers will
accept as warrantable refrigerant.
Cheers,
Fred McClellan
the dash plumber at mindspring dot com