wrote in message ...
On Fri, 6 Nov 2009 07:49:02 -0500, "Eric" wrote:
The chinese have been "going berserk" making the billion R12
refrigerators they promised in the 70s. Are you saying every one of
them still has all the original refrigerant in them?
That still ignores the fact that all freon gets vented eventually. As
careful as you may be, the main reason most appliances get thrown away
is the freon is gone.
I'm not sure about that, although I'd agree it often escapes eventually. Especially in the case of
car A/Cs, where leakage is just about guaranteed as the car ages.

On the other hand, when I was a kid I used to enjoy bringing window A/Cs home from the dump and
seeing if I could make them work. Of those, I'd say maybe 1/3 had random electrical problems that
were easily fixed, and almost all the remainder had seized compressors or fans (or both). Think I
only ever saw one where the refrigerant had escaped.

I also question how well we recycle. I know the fridge and the package
AC unit I had the county haul away were vented in the street in front
of my house ... after I heard all about the "special pickup" and how
they had to do something special with the freon. They just grabbed the
package unit with a claw truck and banged it in the bed until the
freon blew out, then drove away. The guys cut the copper out of the
fridge.

That's really sad. I always suspected that happened some of the time, but I'd never heard a
firsthand account before.

Eric Law