Anyone use those R-134 refil kits for air conditioning?

I am on the road and noticed my AC isn't performing well. Local shops
want close to a $100 for an R-134 refil (97 Honda Accord). I saw an
R-134 refil kit at Walmart for $20. Has anyone had success with these
inexpensive refil kits?
Thanks

 

Is it R-134 in the can, or just propane?

 

You can get good results. Or cause sufficient problems to cause you
to seek professional help.

Verify that the contents are R-134 without "sealer," "leak detection
dye," "oil," or other crap. You just want the pure stuff, and that's
fairly hard to find. (Guess what's cheaper than R-134?)

The cheapo cans with gauges attached are for the low side of the
system only. That gauge only tells you only part of the picture, and
I'd rather see high side if limited to just one gauge, but is probably
good enough to get you through. The low side gauge is just cheap to
manufacture.

Watch the gauge as you install the new R-134. Put a thermometer on
the a/c vent and check the temp before you start anything; let the a/c
go on max hi (external air) and watch the termp go down as you add.
If it goes down a while and then starts rising again, you've added too
much and the system is choking on it. (Or else the compressor may be
cycling on/off, especially when the charge is very low, in which case
you'll probably want to continue adding.)

The newer systems have a relatively small window of "correct" level,
unlike the R-12 systems where a half-can one way or the other might
hardly make a difference. Now it is just a few ounces tolerance, and
these new systems are therefore very intolerant of even a small leak.

If there's no real change in temp as you add, you probably have an
internal problem.

 

Yes, I have and do use them when needed for a little boost. The kit with
the
gauge on it will help you top up the system without overcharging.

It IS R134a that you get in these cans, by the way, and is clearly labeled
as
such.

 

That wheat flour / melamine mix from China was clearly labeled as wheat
gluten... It's up to you to check the brand and origin of what you
purchase to determine the risk of it being counterfeit.

 

That melamine contamination was a total bollocks, and I have not yet
heard a satisfactory explanation of it.

I think that with any product, it will do you no good to check the brand
and origin. Manufacturers buy and relabel R134a under their own name.
Contamination shouldnt happen but you and I both know it CAN happen,
no matter who supplies it.

 

It was a counterfeit product. What was sold as wheat gluten, a processed
derivative of wheat, was in fact plain old wheat flour with scrap
melamine added to trick QC tests the buyer might do.

Two separate issues, product contamination and counterfeit product.

 

It's not that bad. Here's how the story seems to go:

1. Total protein assay on food products is often just done by measuring
nitrogen levels, because it's a quick and easy measurement.

2. Melamine (of very low quality) is frequently used as a fertilizer in
China and is commonly available as a result.

3. Someone along the chain added large amounts of melamine to a food
product in an attempt to make it look like it had a higher protein
content than it really did.

4. Although melamine is not toxic, the poor quality melamine they used
had a lot of other nitrogen compounds coming along for the ride, some
of which were.

This is true, but within the US we have recourse for when something goes
wrong somewhere in the supply chain. This is not the case for some other
countries.
--scott

 

Thanks, Scott. I hadn't really delved into this, and appreciate your
update.
It seems that the whole affair lost public scrutiny fairly quickly. I am
sure
it is an embarassment to China, and to American importers and
manufacturers.....
probably something these interest groups would like to see fade away.

Interesting how we import food type products from China now...the same
China which we used perceived as starving millions of poor people.

Had one simply checked the brand and apparent origin of the pet foods,
as Pete C. suggested in the case of refrigerant, he would have found nothing
(until the pets started dying.) That was my original point. We have nothing
much to go on re product quality except the integrity of the
wholesaler/retailer,
and in the case of WalMart, Autozone, Napa, and others we do have some
trail for
liability and responsibility if we are damaged.

 

No reason that might have changed. selling food type products for profit
overseas beats feeding the local people without as high of a profit for
many.