In a message dated 8/11/02 3:38:39 AM, KimBrennan@AOL.COM writes:

>>It seems the R-12 did a better job but, lacking data, I can not be certain.
>>BTW, what is ES-12? Has anyone used R-406a in a GL?
>
>You can be certain.

Sometimes the enter key sends before I'm finished editing...

ES-12 is another refrigerant production, with a variety of brand names, such
as Duracool (I believe.) It is based upon butane and propane, but isn't any
more flamable than R134 (actually less...) The nice thing about
ES-12/Duracool is that it has cooling capabilities similar to the R-12 that
was original to your Vanagon (slightly better, according to the
manufacturers.) R134 definitely does not.

I went and bought a bunch of the duracool stuff, meaning to convert my
Syncros over, but have been working on so many other issues, that I haven't
gotten round to it.

I remember the R12 cooling of my GoldBrick when I first got it...and it was
AWESOME...or just COOL. R134, for my money, doesn't come anywhere close to
it, as I have to run at full fan speed and full cooling tempature to approach
something tolarably cool. With R12 I was able to use minimum tempatures and
low fan speeds...when by myself (add a few more bodies, and I usually upped
the fan speed a bit.) R12 used to cool my Van down to comfortable tempatures
in moments (usually less than 5 minutes at full fan.) R134 takes 10 minutes
to tolerable levels and never seems to get really cool....

All of this, of course, is in my experience. Your mileage may vary.