Refridgerant leak?

Any seal can leak, high side, low side, it doesn’t matter it’s all under pressure.

Do you think the fire will be contained in the engine compartment after a crash?

I guess you not being a mechanic or in the automotive repair business has never heard of or had an evaporator core leak…

If R12, R134A etc can leak out, what makes you think that Propane can/will not do the same thing under the same conditions???

Well then I guess all of the mechanics all over the world since the invention of the AC system has been having the same delusion, you know, the one where we repair leaking AC systems… :man_facepalming:

How much time did it take for all the refrigerant to leak out?

I’m still not aware of a single injury resulting from the use of flammable hydrocarbons in an automotive A/C.

Guess what? The new R1234yf refrigerant is actually somewhat flammable!

And when do you think you will stop beating your wife?

Tester

Thanks for finding that. Why of all places did both incidents in the article occur at mining sites?

The good news is nobody died. If I reduce my speed by 1 MPH, I should offset the increased danger of flammable refrigerants in a car :slight_smile:

Maybe that’s because next to nobody uses flammable hydrocarbons in their AC, for good reason.

Your counterargument seems to be off topic.

Perhaps unique to my area, there are vehicle collisions every day that result in ruptured A/C condensers. Domestic violence is just as common, but air conditioning fires are preventable.

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How many times have you seen a vehicle fire on the side of the road that didn’t make news or past the local news anyway, unless Propane is in question, why would anybody even test for it or even think of it, I’m sure the IDIOT that put it in the vehicle didn’t come forward and say Hey Y’all, I put flammable Propane in the car and that is why it caught fire…

Besides that, how many shops use a blue tip wrench on a vehicle, or even welding something on a vehicle or around the shop for whatever, you don’t check every vehicle to see if a vehicle is leaking freon much less if it has propane in it that could blow your freaking shop to hell… That is why propane tanks are stored in outside lockers with signs saying NO SMOKING!!! because the stuff is extremely flammable…

1. Is it safe to use hydrocarbon (HC) refrigerants in motor vehicle air conditioners (MVACs)?

No. HC refrigerants, such as propane, are highly flammable and are not acceptable alternatives for MVACs under the Clean Air Act and the EPA’s Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) Program.

2. What are the safety risks of using HCs in MVACs?

The EPA strongly advises against using HC refrigerants in MVACs. The use of these refrigerants in MVACs can result in fire or explosion, possibly causing injury and property damage. It may also void your car’s warranty.

Questions and Answers About the Safety Risks of Using Hydrocarbons (HCs) in Motor Vehicle Air Conditioners (MVACs) | US EPA.

And perhaps it misrepresents the opponent’s position and is not at all related to what was being discussed?

There also happens to be this thing galled gasoline that cars have! The amount of propane would be fairly small.

And at the bottom of the blue tip wrench there is a bottle of propane. More than the A/C system contains.

This is like the media and the EVs catching on fire thing. Yes they do catch on fire. Almost everyone gets out safely. Far more people are killed due to other vehicle related issues.

As far as the engine compartment catching fire in an accident due to propane I’m not sure how likely that would be. There are already lots of accidents where the fuel system gets hit and the engine compartment catches on fire due to gasoline leaking.

A refrigerant charge is close to half of a hand held propane tank’s capacity. The big BBQ tanks must stay outdoors for this reason but the small ones can come in.

How did the EPA gain jurisdiction over refrigeration systems anyway? I undertand how if they contain toxic chemicals that can be released in to the environment, but if it no longer contains any such chemical then the EPA should not be involved. Maybe the ATF or UL or whoever made the federal lawn mower safety regulations could handle it then.

OMG, you are NOT POINTING the flame at the bottle of PROPANE, the propane is fueling the fire…
We also use oxy-acetylene torches but we don’t put it in an unsafe container like an AC system… We also don’t point open flames at the cylinders holding the oxygen and acetylene…

And you also keep the gas in your vehicle away from heat…

A M80 fire cracker is no where close to that of a stick of dynamite either, but I bet you won’t hold one in your hand lit for very long, more than once anyway!!!.. That is the same logic as your statements above…

No one would hazard to heat gasoline to 200 F and pump it through an aluminum cooler located behind the front grill at 300 PSI.

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@TheWonderful90s You seem to be a candidate to win a Darwin award

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All the way to the expansion valve at the evaporator.