ago in Others by
As the title states. I have a R1234yf AC system that somehow got contaminated with R134a. Problem is the dealership is unable to recover contaminated gas and is unable to reap air the Ac system until the contamination is fixed. I am on the Chicagoland area if anyone knows of any shops that will recover the contaminated gas.

3 Answers

+1 vote
ago by
How are you & them sure of this? The fittings for R1234yf don’t fit R134a and vice versa?
ago by
Car has been to 2 different dealerships and has been tested on 3 different machines. Most recent screen readout shows r1234yf 93.6% r134 6.4% and 1.7% air.
ago by
It is going to be hard to find any shop that has a $7000+ R134yf machine dedicated only to contaminated refrigerant recovery and nothing else. This is not something you ever see happen, as some one else said the fittings are completely different, so some one had to work very hard at rigging up some way of getting r134 into it. What would make it even worse is if it turns out to have been one of those home cans with sealant in it.

It is highly illegal to vent refrigerant to the atmosphere. it is also a fact that you are very unlikely to be able to find a shop that can recover this for you. However, if it came in to a shop to be charged and happened to be empty, there would be no problem.
ago by
Thanks for your input. I don’t know much about car ac systems, but the dealership said that even there could still be a contamination in the system regardless of the system being vented and showing up empty. Basically that it would have to be vacuumed out to ensure that it is empty and no contamination. Not sure how true that actually is.
+1 vote
ago by
Sometimes auto mechanics can be silly with this stuff. That's complete BS they just rely on their fancy machine. A/C is a trade in it's own right and arguably cant be taught in two weeks
ago by
With your knowledge in A/C repair. Is there anything you can suggest to get rid of this contamination?
ago by
In the commercial AC world we'd just go down to the supplier, get a reclaim bottle, connect up a reclaim pump and remove the charge, then return the bottle to the supplier and thats about it.

Being a class A2L refrigerant its considered mildly flammable and you'd probably need a special reclaim unit (encapsulated/sealed motor and electrical to minimize risk of explosion or fire if the recovery unit were to leak) but they do exist.

I'm assuming it's only because the dealership lacks the tools/training to conduct the work and/or it may not be legal for them to do so (laws are weird, you do four years of training and cant work on a car AC but a mechanic can do a few weeks and is allowed to go nuts). I'm not familiar with the relevant rules and regulations for the automotive side of the business. You never know, maybe they're not allowed to use anything but those all in one machines legally.

I think its because in the automotive field they have this idea of reclaiming and reusing refrigerant, making all the refrigerant they use "contaminated" really. Though i suppose you dont get bad burn outs in automotive like you might in other systems as there is no motor present inside the refrigeration circuit.
+1 vote
ago by
Did you get this fixed?  There is a myriad of shops putting R134A into 1234Y systems, all you need is the fitting adaptor. It's on amazon for less then $20.00. It's a cheap shop alternative to fixing it correctly. And sadly a lot of shops hold out and cut corners rather then doing it correctly.
ago by
I would think repair shop would be glad you convert your 1234 system to a R134 system they could reclaim your 1234 freon and resell it to another customer for about $15 an ounce after an evacuation, replacing your expansion valve then allowing the machine to vacuum purge and recharge your system it will work like any other R134 system.

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