There's some good news for owners of cars that use R-12 Freon refrigerant in their air-conditioning systems.
There is now a direct replacement for R-12 on the market from Houston-based Pennzoil, called FR-12 and carrying the brand name FRIGC (pronounced frij-ik).Converting to FR-12 is a simple and relatively inexpensive process compared with the complicated conversions to the new R-134a refrigerant now used in all new cars. That conversion can cost up to $1,000.
Shade-tree mechanics who have tried to repair their own R-12-charged air-conditioning systems know that it's no longer possible to buy those little one-pound cans of R-12 off the shelf at the corner auto-parts store.
Those cans have been gone from public view since Jan. 1, 1993, leaving do-it-yourselfers to turn their air-conditioning repair projects over to shops that keep supplies of R-12 on hand. Most of these shops buy their R-12 in bulk tanks, at a cost this week of $520 to $550 for a 30-pound tank (up from less than $400 just three weeks ago).
Anyone with the required EPA R-12 certification still can buy the 1-pound cans at auto-parts stores, but the cans are kept in the back and guarded like gold. This week, one popular local auto-parts chain was selling the cans for $14.99 each - the same cans we could buy off the shelf in 1992 for 99 cents.
And, as of Jan. 1, worldwide production of R-12 ceased, so the remaining stocks of the refrigerant are limited. That's one reason for the high cost; the other is a federal "environmental" tax approaching $6 per pound.
You're probably thinking by now that the new Pennzoil FR-12 probably costs a lot less than R-12, giving you an incentive to put that in your car system and do away with the R-12.
Think again. It's less expensive than R-12, but it's not cheap. A 30-pound tank of FR-12 was going for about $360 last week.
The Freon crisis was brought about by the unproved theory that leaking chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) such as R-12 are contributing to the decline of the ozone layer in the Earth's atmosphere.
Politicians and environmentalists bought into the CFC theory and engineered a worldwide pact to drastically curb the use of these compounds.
To comply with the laws, the automakers shifted to the use of the "environmentally friendly" R-134a refrigerant in new cars. But R-134a isn't compatible with R-12 systems.
Now, to switch an R-12 car system to FR-12 requires only that the old R-12 be pumped out into an EPA-approved recovery system, and that special new fittings for FR-12 be installed on the vehicle. The changeover costs just a fraction of the conversion to R-134a.
Unfortunately for do-it-yourselfers, auto-parts houses won't sell FR-12 to noncertified people. A spokeswoman for Pennzoil couldn't tell me why sales of FR-12 are being restricted, but presumably it's because the government doesn't want do-it-yourselfers opening a valve on their air-conditioners and letting the remaining R-12 escape into the atmosphere before refilling the system with FR-12. Neither does the EPA want anyone mixing R-12 and FR-12, even though the manufacturer says the two are compatible.
I don't want to think that the real reason FR-12 sales are limited, however, is because this whole Freon restriction business has created a bonanza for the shops that service air-conditioners, and that this is a conspiracy to keep home mechanics from getting back into the business of repairing their own A/C systems.
As an experiment, I completed the necessary study and passed the official test for R-12 certification and now carry the little card that allows me to buy the stuff. The card, issued by the Mobile Air Conditioning Society, is available to anyone who wants to complete the course of study and pass the test. It allows the holder to buy only car air-conditioning refrigerant.
To buy R-22, the refrigerant used in residential and commercial air-conditioning units and refrigerators, requires separate certification from one of a number of associations representing heating and air-conditioning contractors. I found that at least one of these certifying agencies, the Residential Service Engineers Society, won't certify anyone who isn't a professional in the business, according to a local representative for the society.
That's in spite of the EPA's assertion that the certification process is intended only as an educational tool to help make sure that anyone handling Freon (R-12 or R-22) knows how to recover it from A/C systems and keep it from escaping into the atmosphere, and that fixing leaks in A/C systems is better than periodically adding more Freon to replace any that has leaked out into the atmosphere.
But, although the manufacture of the home A/C refrigerant R-22 will continue well into the next century, and there are no federal taxes on it, homeowners can't buy it for themselves.
Sam's Club sells R-22 wholesale to certified buyers for less than $1.70 a pound ($49.99 for 30 pounds), but the going retail price to the end user - you - through A/C repair companies is about $15 a pound.
And no, you can't put R-22 into your R-12 car air-conditioning system, either, even if you could manage to buy some of it at the Sam's price.
