I’m far from an Air Conditioning expert but the can of Freon that is being advertised as a quick repair for malfunctioning vehicle air conditioning seems like a scam. Can the forum experts please confirm or deny my limited knowledge. As far as I know Freon replacement requires a purge and fill. A/C pro is advertised as being attached to the fill fitting and then replacing the lost Freon giving us perfectly functioning A/C. Didn’t the original Freon disappear due to a leak? Wouldn’t the replacement Freon leak out?
Some refrigerants come with a stop-leak included to to seal leaks in the system.
Is this what you’re referring to?
And by the way, Freon is DuPonts trade name for their R12 refrigerant. So unless you’re talking about a vehicle built in the early 90’s, the refrigerant is R134A
Tester
Tester Thank you for the information. That is really what I was looking for. I remember when the Government purchased a few million pounds of R12 from DuPont prior to the ban. To continue servicing their equipment. I am 30 years military coinciding with 20 years Federal civil service and am quite accustomed with their being hipocrites.
If you’re talking about converting from R12 to R134a, it can be done. But it has to be done correctly.
And these conversion kits aren’t the correct way to do the conversion.
Tester
Newer AC systems use less coolant than the older ones. And are very sensitive to overfilling. That’s why the recommendation for a complete purge before re-filling. Overfilling can result to very expensive problems, including the need to replace the entire AC system. There’s no reason I know of that a DIY’er can’t service their own car’s AC, provided they have the required equipment and the car’s factory service manual procedures are followed. The FSM is where I’d start.
There are lots of problems that refrigerant won’t fix. On the other hand, adding it can probably solve most problems. Any Haynes manual will give you some instruction. Little information to me can be enough for smart people. Rumor has it that AC isn’t difficult to work on or understand so I will wait until I have a problem before I try to figure everything out.
There’s a difference between replenishing a partial loss of refrigerant and topping off a system that is totally empty. The latter means the system really needs to be evacuated before any charging is done.
If you use a product like this I strongly suggest safety goggles and gloves. A second or two of refrigerant can cause frostbite to any skin it hits and blindness if any of it hits the eyes.
From the posts of people with knowledge of automobile A/C I am satisfied that this “As seen on TV” fix is total bullsh*t! My A/C works fine and is still under warranty. I was just curious.
A 12oz can of freon is $7 at WM. the sealer stuff is $15. A simple gauge hose is $15. They charge $35 for a 1 time use, can of freon and gauge. It does what it sez. It is a simple “add freon” tool. If ur car is a bit lo on charge, than it works as intended.
I’ve seen the commercial, and it is a bit misleading. They seem to suggest that their ‘add freon’ tool is a fix-all for car A/C repair. They hope that you’ll spend the $35 on their product before finding out why your A/C is broken, whether or not if it works.
Agree with @BustedKnuckles since AC Pro is just a “band-aid” at best. It’s not major or minor surgery at all. If you know that going in…the stuff is fine.
I haven’t had much luck with the charging tubes with pressure gauge included. The pressure seems to wander around too much. I just add 134a until the low pressure line from the evaporator gets cold (fan on HI). Oh for the good old days when we had sightglasses on the receiver/dryers.