John,

Well said.  The simple fact is that we are stuck with R134a because the
large corporations that lobby the EPA were able to get R12 off the market
when their patent ran out.  And guess what they had for a replacement... a
newly patented product called R134a.

Hydrocarbon (HC) based refrigerants are widely used worldwide without issue.
Our EPA loves to stand on it's soap box and talk about the environmental
benefits of R134 over R12, and they're right, R12 takes 130 years to
dissipate, whilst R134a is gone in 16.  What they don't tell you is that HC
based refrigerants dissipate in less than 1 year, hmmm...

Here in the USA, we always follow the golden rule:  "Those with the gold,
make the rules"

Okay, I'm stepping down off of my soap box now.

Happy 4th,

Jeff

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM]On Behalf
Of John Bange
Sent: Sunday, July 02, 2006 11:10 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: freeze 12

>
> Now the thing about Freeze 12 is it is PROPANE based. A news station
> back home once serviced a car with freeze 12 and made a small leak in
> the evaporator. They ran the car for 30 minutes or so all closed up and
> had a mannequin inside with a cig and lighter. When the made the lighter
> ignite the whole interior became a fire bomb and exploded.
>
> Just something to think about. I smoke so no freeze 12 for me

Typical local news ratings-grab stunt. All hydrocarbon refrigerants are
odorized, just like the LPG in your barbecue tank and the NG in your home
gas lines, for that very reason. There's no way you could STAND to be in the
car until an explosive fuel air ratio was reached.  You could just as easily
blow yourself up leaving the stove on in a westy. Propane there too, a lot
more than 18oz of it, and it's contained in a system DESIGNED to vent freely
into the interior-- no need for a production assistant to puncture anything.
Every refrigerator sold in Germany uses hydrocarbon refrigerant.  Like
anywhere else, safety with HC chillers is a matter of maintenance and
caution. Sure, it has the potential to be a greater fire hazard than R134a,
but so does gasoline over diesel. Life's a series of calculated risks.

--
John Bange
'90 Vanagon - "Geldsauger"