Frigc getting some press...
If you think about it...now Pennzoil and Sumitomo are placing
bulk orders of frigc...That fact alone would seem to indicate better sales...also if they could just do a million lbs...
the possible revenues from Frigc are so expansive...1 million lbs = 7 million in revenues and when the are doing 26 million per quarter that kind of possibility is what probably keeps people looking...
If they could just get it off the ground...
Losing our cool?
The successor to the banned refrigerant Freon is tricky and less
efficient
Peter Bohr
The Press-Enterprise
862 Words
5722 Characters
06/01/98
The Press-Enterprise Riverside, CA
B05
(Copyright 1998)
It was a rite of summer. At the first hint of warm weather, you'd
take your car into the shop for a shot of Freon and the air
conditioner would be all set to keep you cool through the dog days
of July and August. Recharging the air conditioner cost 15 or 20
bucks tops.
If you were the least bit handy, you could even do it yourself
with a $5 can of Freon from the auto parts store.
Ah, the good 'ole days. Things are more complicated - and
expensive - today. The problem is, Freon - called R-12 in the
air-conditioning trade - is believed to be destroying the ozone
layer that shields us Earthlings from harmful ultraviolet light.
So back in 1995, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
banned R-12 from being manufactured or imported into the United
States. Anticipating the ban, automakers starting switching over to
a more environmentally friendly refrigerant called R-134a in 1992.
And nearly all cars made from 1994 on use R-134a.
The new refrigerant may not destroy the ozone layer, but it
isn't as efficient at removing heat from the inside of a car as the
Freon. "Freon is still the king of refrigerants," said Al Slocum,
an air conditioner technician with Sherman's Mobile Air
Conditioning in Riverside. "R-134a is only about 80 percent as
effective."
If you have a newer car that was designed from the get-go to
use R-134a, you probably won't notice the difference. Automakers
made modifications to their air-conditioning systems to compensate
for the refrigerant's reduced efficiency; condensers, for instance,
have much higher capacities on new cars.
That is, you won't notice the difference if your A/C system is
in fine fettle. "The old systems would still work even if they were
25 percent or 50 percent low on Freon," said Slocum. "The R-134a
systems have almost no reserve capacity. Even if they're 5 or 10
percent low, they won't cool."
Recharging the new systems is tricky business. If they're not
charged up enough, they won't work. If they're overcharged, hoses
will blow. "I've got 20 years in the industry and I still have
trouble guessing when an R-134a system is full," said Slocum.
That's why Slocum has a bank of expensive equipment to tell
him when a system is fully charged. And that's why it's virtually
impossible for a backyard mechanic to properly refill an R-134a
system.
Moreover, it's hard to detect where R-134a might be leaking
from an air-conditioning system - which requires additional
equipment. Recharging an R-134 system because of a minor leak from
say, a bad O-ring, will run around $80 these days.
Still, that's a lot less expensive than recharging an older
car with a Freon air-conditioning system.
Contrary to what many motorists believe, it's not illegal to
recharge a Freon system; it's only illegal to manufacture the
stuff. "Motorists with Freon should use Freon as long it is
practical," said Frank Allision, executive director of the
International Mobile Air Conditioning Association, an industry
trade group.
But to encourage recycling of the Freon already in use, the
EPA has imposed a hefty tax on the refrigerant. And Slocum said
that to recharge a typical Freon system costs around $130.
Unlike the newer R-134a systems, the older Freon systems are
inherently leakier. Which means if you own one of the 100 million
or so older cars still on the road, you can expect to pay for a
Freon recharge every two or three years.
There is, however, another option if you're the owner of an
older car: You can covert your Freon system to either R-134a or
another EPA-approved refrigerant substitute for Freon.
But converting to R-134a isn't simple. You can't just dump
out the Freon and replace it with R-134a. "It requires a lot of
work, like pulling the compressor and perhaps adding an auxiliary
electric fan," said Slocum. It's a project that can cost from $200
to $400 for most older cars.
And even then, some manufacturers don't recommend the
conversion for certain cars. General Motors, for instance doesn't
believe converting a Freon system to R-134a will provide enough
interior cooling on older rear-wheel-drive vehicles with
engine-driven fans.
But since the ban on Freon production, substitutes - legal and
illegal - have turned up on the market. A company from Post Falls,
Idaho, was selling cans of a refrigerant called OZ-12. "It was
nothing but propane," said Slocum. "Propane is a good refrigerant,
but it's highly flammable." Indeed, should a propane-filled A/C
system develop a leak inside the engine or passenger compartment,
and should it be ignited by a spark, the car would turn into a
rolling bomb.
The EPA has accepted other Freon substitutes, including one
called FR-12 or FRIGC, as safe and environmentally friendly. Its
* maker, Intermagnetics General Corp. of Latham, N.Y., claims that
FRIGC matches the cooling performance of Freon. And according to
Slocum, the cost of conversion from Freon to FRIGC is relatively
inexpensive at around $120 to $140. After the conversion, future
recharges cost little more than those for R-134a.
Keeping cool this summer has become more expensive. But at
least you won't be destroying the environment in the process.
PHOTO;
Caption: Kurt Miller; The Press-Enterprise; Checking for a
cooling system leak is air-conditioning specialist Al Slocum of
Sherman's Mobile Air Conditioning in Riverside.
I0607 * End of document.
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