[ale] [WAY OT] WARNING - diy car ac recharge kits can be dangerous

[Dustin Strickland]

Thanks for the tip - my grandfather has been religiously using those cans
over the summer for about 3 years, though so far he has suffered no
ill-effects. I'll pass it on to him that he should get it checked so that
his hood doesn't explode off the front of the car when he's sitting at a
red light on a hot day


On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 2:40 PM, Ron Frazier (ALE) <
atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> OK, yes, definitely not Linux related, but I thought you guys might want
> to know this and, well, I'm not active on car forums.
>
> I've learned the hard way that diy ac recharge kits can be dangerous.  How
> hard the hard way is has yet to be determined.
>
> So, I traded one car and got another used car last year.  The ac seemed to
> be running intermittently, so I get the handy r134 recharge kit from
> autozone with the built in low pressure gauge so you can tell what you're
> doing.
>
> Instructions say, basically, adjust the pointer on the gauge for the
> outside temperature, connect hose to low side ac port, run compressor,
> squeeze trigger and periodically shake the can.  You should be done when
> gauge is in green zone and air is cold.  So, I watch the gauge and keep
> squeezing the trigger.  It never leaves the green zone.  I keep doing this
> for a while ASSUMING the magic gauge will let me know if there is a
> problem.  After a while, things are stable and the gauge is not varying
> much.  Air is cold, so I disconnect everything and go do the same procedure
> on my wife's car.
>
> Note, the instructions say DO NOT OVERCHARGE!, but the clear implication
> is that you're not overcharging as long as the gauge is in the green.
>
> Fast forward to a couple of days ago, my ac is again intermittent on a hot
> day, so I repeat the procedure.  Same results on the gauge.  But, not the
> same results under the hood.  Now the compressor literally runs only for 1
> second or so.  A couple of times, when it tries to turn on, I hear this
> grinding noise and see smoke.  Pretty sure that was the clutch slipping.  I
> turn the unit off and take it to my mechanic.
>
> He calls me later and tells me my high side pressure (which is not
> measured by the diy kit) is around 400 PSI and he's surprised that the
> whole system hasn't exploded.  Wow, that was fun to hear.  He's going to
> evacuate and recharge the system and we'll find out if anything has been
> damaged.
>
> So, APPARENTLY YOU CAN OVERCHARGE with a diy kit and you'll never know it.
>
> Try googling diy ac recharge overcharge, and you'll get some interesting
> results.  One forum post says you can only know if you've charged enough by
> weight, not by pressure.
>
> So, now I have to pay $ 100 to evacuate and recharge my car ac.  Then, I
> have to do the same to my wife's car, because I don't know if it's safe or
> not.  Then, if I've damaged something, I have to figure out whether I want
> to pay hundreds more dollars to have a working ac again or just sweat it
> out.  I'm really hoping the system will still work.
>
> If it's that easy to screw the system up and it's that hard to tell if
> you're doing it right, I almost think these products shouldn't be on the
> market.
>
> Hard lesson learned.  It could have been a lot harder.  I guess I could
> have caused an explosion.  Hopefully, the high pressure sensor would have
> just disabled the system before that.
>
> If I have to replace the compressor, drier, and expansion device (usually
> done together), this looks like a good source online.  I've never used
> them, just read the website, but they have a complete kit for my car for $
> 300.
>
> http://www.discountacparts.com
>
> Like I said, just passing this along.  Maybe my story will save someone
> else some grief.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Ron
>
>
> --
>
> (PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
> call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
> mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new email messages very
> quickly.)
>
> Ron Frazier
> 770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
> linuxdude AT techstarship.com
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