Converting to 134a

[FB71]

why do think its no longer in use.....

[Eccentric]

I've heard of the ammonia A/C. Many old buildings still have those systems.

I remember reading about a fridge you hooked up to the gas line; not sure how it worked exactly.


Regards,

Tim

Ammonia is neat stuff. Without going to to much detail it works like this. Heat up a mixture of water and ammonia. It evaporates then gets separated. The ammonia then condensed and becomes liquid it then gets combined with hydrogen. This then flows into the water that was separated from the ammonia the hydrogen gets released. They are normal powered by propane or natural gas. They use very little gas to run. They are a closed system and have no moving parts. Other then lasting forever and low operating cost if you power goes out your frig keeps cold. It's mostly used for RVs and people living off the grid. It would be used more but ammonia is classified as very hazardous.

A neat side fact using ammonia. Heat up ammonia with warm surface ocean water. Ammonia has a very low boiling point so it boils and is used to power a turbine generator. The ammonia vapor is then cooled by ocean deeper cool ocean water pumped up by the electricity from the turbine generator. Even though you are pumping water there is a net gain of power.
Think of the worlds oceans as a giant solar collector. Build a few thousand floating platforms that use the method of generating power and use it to make hydrogen who needs oil when you have basically an unlimited amount of energy as long as the sun shines. And if the sun stops shining we have bigger problems.

it used a pilot lite to "boil" propane in the system causing high pressure to build. That pressure would force propane past an orifice, where it would expand and collect heat. It then went through a condenser, and finally fed the pilot lite. Total loss refrigerant....... (it didn't recycle through the system)

Sounds safe to me. Propane has a very low boiling point -44 F and ignites around 1000 F. As long as the flame doesn't come in contact with the propane and it doesn't get above 1000 F it should be safe.

[Tim]

So propane fridges are about as dangerous as the average gas grill?

Aside from being hazardous, Ammonia sounds like a really versatile substance.


Regards,

Tim

[Eccentric]

So propane fridges are about as dangerous as the average gas grill?

Aside from being hazardous, Ammonia sounds like a really versatile substance.


Regards,

Tim

The propane refrigeration that FB71 described would be as safe as a propane grill. The ammonia (which is commonly referred to as propane refrigerator) in good working order is about as dangerous as a water heater. If you looked up the safety data on ammonia and compared it to gasoline. I wouldn't be surprised if gas is more dangerous to our health. As long as you don't inhale a large amount it's you should be fine.

[90festivalplus]

Yes propane does have an R designation however would I recommend using it in anything other than my gas grill nope. Back when the big push to convert from R-12 to R-134a several dealerships were fined when they replaced R-12 with a propane blend due to explosions and fires. I recommend finding a leak before jamming another can of refrigerant in a car A/C system. I find it odd that as a home and commercial HVAC contractor I have to have a license (EPA608 card) to buy refrigerant but anyone can go into the local auto parts store etc..... to buy refrigerant with the exception of a couple of states. Ok I will get down off my soapbox now.

[F3BZ]

ya but doesn't the card allow you to buy 30# canisters which i think are off limits to the parts store crowd?

[old yellow]

doesn't the 1991 use R134?

[bolokid]

doesn't the 1991 use R134?

My 1991 uses R-12.

[crazyrog17]

Pretty sure the switch was in '94. My '93 Grand Marquis was R12 and I did a little research before converting it.

[TorqueEffect]

Sorry, not to highjack, but I figured since a/c was being talked about I would bring it up here.

I have a a/c system out of a 91' Festy that had both A/C and power steering, so the a/c lines wrap around the engine bay near the battery. I was pretty sure it was factory because it is a Denso compressor. Well I was looking for a reciever and drier, so I looked up receiver/driers on rockauto for factory applications and none of them look like the one I pulled off the condenser. All the factory ones listed showed that you have to transplant over the fittings, but the drier I have the fittings are permanently attached just like the dealer installed setup ones, but those have some weird fin.

[Tommychu]

Before yesterday this thread hadn't been active since roughly a year before I even bought my first car. But 152a is the best way to revive an r12 system since it's extremely cheap, relatively safe for the environment (it's the same stuff they use in computer dusters) and has very similar properties to R12, which means that r12 systems actually work well on it with minimal work to change it over.