[Gmcnet] Duracool compatibility

[Emery Stora]

On Aug 9, 2008, at 11:19 AM, John Wright wrote:

> Actually Emory the Duracool site  says that the existing refrigerant
> must be removed before charging with Duracool.
>
> See Below:
>
> John
>
>

Actually John you might want to read a little farther down on that  
page you are referencing on their site.  If you read what you quoted  
it says "To replace CFC-12 with DURACOOL 12a® requires the removal of  
all existing refrigerant".

If you are NOT replacing it you would obviously not be removing it.

It says a bit farther down on the page:

"Does the system need to be completely empty?
Although mixing DURACOOL12a® with CFC-12 or R-134a in your A/C system  
would not damage or harm your system, it is illegal to charge your AC  
system without first evacuating the refrigerant that is currently in  
the A/C unit."

There are other manufacturers of HC12a besides Duracool and I have  
also read before on their sites that one can add HC12a to an existing  
system with no harm.

Of course, if your are replacing the existing refrigerant you would  
want to remove it first (as I suggested in my email), but if you  
really just wanted to just add some Duracool to the system to top it  
up  it does no harm. You just won't get the advantages of a full  
charge of Duracool (HC12a) so I don't know why anyone would want to  
just top it up unless you had a low system and just had one can and  
wanted to get air conditioning until you could get more product.  In  
fact, I did this once on a car and it worked fine.  I later obtained  
more HC12a and then replaced all of the refrigerant with HC12a so that  
it would cool better.

Emery Stora
77 Kingsley
Santa Fe, NM