I have a very small leak in my air con system. It seems to need refilling every 12 months or so.
I have taken it to air con specialists twice now but they can't track down the leak.
Rather than keep paying them to refill it periodically, I would like to buy some R134a in smaller quantities and refill it myself. I already have a vacuum pump to vac the system out before refilling.
I have seen "aerosol" sized cans for sale in auto shops in the USA, but over here in the UK I have only seen it available in large expensive 10kg cylinders. (About 15 years supply at my present leak rate!)
Where can I buy these aerosol sized cans in the UK?
Regards,
Mike Humpherson.
mike.humpherson@thermo.com
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Some commercial refrigeration wholesalers sell 1kg tins of gas for about £20, but you'll also need an r134 service port adaptor and hose, about £25.
Everytime you fill with gas you also need to add some PAG oil, as if gas is escaping, so is oil, and eventually you'll be running dry. PAG oil costs around £12/250ml, and you'll have to sort some way of introducing it to the system.
Only other thing to sort is you need a way to work out how much you've put in the system. Normally it's weighed in from a bulk cylinder. If you go maybe 5-10% over, the thing could blow up in your face. It's also illegal to vent refrigerant to atmosphere, and recharging a system that has a known leak constitutes venting, but I don't suppose the enviroment agency will be watching you.
What car do you have, maybe we can help pinpoint a leak.
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Dave,
Thanks for the reply.
Can you suggest some refrigeration wholesalers who might sell the 1kg tins.
I was thinking of buying a simple set of pressure gauges which already have the correct service port adaptors. I think I saw them somewhere for about £40-£50.
Can't you just pour the oil in when the system is all at atmospheric pressure.
Regarding refilling with the correct quantity, can't I do it by measuring the weight of the cannister on a spring balance while refilling the system. I know the correct quantity for my car is 650g, so I just need to keep refilling until the weight of the cannister has reduced by that amount. I assume I can connect the cannister using a flexible hose.
Its a Peugeot 405 1.9TD, 1995. Does that help?
Mike Humpherson
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I had a 1994 405 2.0GTX with aircon that had a similar problem. Leak was traced to the near the P clips that attach the condensor (next to the radiator) to the crossmember. The condensor is made of aluminium and the P clips steel. Eventually you get electrolytic corrosion when the rubber between the two perishes. Cost hundreds to get the condensor replaced. Now discovered the same design fault on the 306.
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Surely it's better to find and fix the leak. Did you know that 70% of all refrigerant sold goes to service engineers for topping up systems. If we were responsible and ensured 'leak free' ( nothing is leak tight ) systems then we wouldn't have the ozone problems etc we have now. My advice and the responsible path is to locate and fix the leak.
Car component manufacturers generally adopt a standard of 2 grammes per year for the components they manufcature. There are some hand held battery operated leak detectors available for £100 ish ( a bit c***py and that probably used by your air-con specialist ), slightly more flashy and accurate ones for £300 - £400 and plug in jobs for £4500. A refrigerant specific device using a mass spectrometer costs £16000. Component manufacturers use helium to test.
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Look on ebay. This guy sells recharge kits complete and very cheap. www.car-air-conditioning-supplies.co.uk/
Regards
Carl
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This link might help, in a general sort of way.
www.aircool.biz/
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Please don't buy small cans that contain sealers/boosters/cleaners etc as they are all junk that will do nothing for your system, except possibly ruin it. It will also ruin recovery machines.
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Prices of R134a are rising as its production is phased down (not out currently). The DIY cans <1kg are still available as pure refrigerant (no added dyes, lubricant or additives). This is a link to a site that lists some USA manufactured product listed in the UK.
dlretail.square.site/
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Wow - 18 years later, a response ... :-)
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There was more recent spam from 2019 that I deleted hence the large gap in posting dates but the account history of 'Cool Cucumber' does not suggest spam.
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