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Aircon Regassers In Melbourne That Use Hychill Hr12 Gas


funkymonkey

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Group re gas. Lets all put in and buy a bottle of HR 12 and i will charge all your cars for free.

that is a very generous offer :)

And John, your post was dead set straight forward and informative, was completely following. I hate using ac units, prefer just a fan, i think now i'll definitely just use a fan. Nasty nasty stuff that i didn't even know about, and i would like to think that i'm environmentally conscious too :P

My car's AC system i'm assuming is fine (again, never use it, just put the windows down, and maybe turn it on a for a few seconds once a month as i was told to do that) so i know i won't need a regas (only compliance about 2-3 years ago) but would be keen just to get rid of this nasty R134a (i remember having to get a degas certificate, and my importer told me it was nasty stuff and that it must be degassed in Japan before coming here, yet our rules make sure it's put back in!!! how stupid is that!).

When ac systems are flushed and 'degassed', and considering how bad this stuff is, how is it disposed of? Is there a safe way of disposing R134a??

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id say we need a list of confirmed ppl that are willing to get this done. then we can figure out how much it will cost for the bottle of gas divided up between us and then pay for the flush ourselves. me personally, i want a full flush and check over and refilled with minus 30 and minerial oil. (environmentally friendly where i can be.)

only thing is, what happens if there isnt enough ppl to use the whole bottle? how many gas refills outta a bottle?

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Well I'm in air con hell atm, mine has packed it in on a 40 odd degree day mind you, I shouldnt complain, its in an 84 model n12 exa...and rare at best)

After calling a recommended(by a friend) air con specialist he replied that hychill is shit, runs dry, is flammable and will kill my brand new compressor in no time. :P yep, it does appear that this particular air con place loves hychill to bits.

So not only do I need a new compressor, tx valve(apparently this is what it needs as the system keeps freezing up, and will let out a mist if the outside termp drops a few degress dramatically), regass and to find someone that will install this stuff asap, I'm hot as hell whist trying...

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john,would you like to come onto the 300zx forum and explain if it is safe to do this,there seems to be a conception this is explosive and dangerous

http://www.aus300zx.com/forum/showthread.p...1192#post661192

Hey Hot300zx,

Sorry I'm taking so long to reply at the moment. It gets exceptionally busy for me around this time.

I'll try my best to contribute something to the 300zx forum as soon as I can get a minute to scratch myself.

In the meantime, I'll just throw in some quick comments here. I had a quick skim over the thread on the ZX site

you linked to, and here's what I think are the key issues concerning what was said in that thread:

1. With all due respect, people using the terms "big bang" or "explosion" is simply nonsense. When HC's of this type burn, they neither make a 'bang' noise nor do they 'explode'. That is basic (read: high school) chemistry. HC's are not explosives. Read some of my earlier posts for more detail.

2. 990TTZ is right - HC's are used in the USA quite a bit. In actual fact they are used most widely in the USA, despite the fact that their use is banned in certain states as a result of heavy lobbying by the f-gas industry (which included scare campaigns to politicians and the media where they would show video's they developed of faked 'explosions'). When the first HC domestic fridges were being made, the f-gas lobby saw the writing on the wall and went so far as publishing propaganda pieces in major print media saying that HC fridges would be "Bombs in the kitchen" - that is a direct quote from an article I have somewhere in one of my boxes here in my dungeon!!!!! There's about 50 grams of HC in the average fridge - so the whole idea of a 'bomb in the kitchen' is absolutely totally ludicrous.

3. 'cbzx' on that forum seems to be the guy making most of the arguments against using HC refrigerants in car AC. He refers to an alleged incident in Queensland. Here's the facts on that incident:

(a) The only "facts" anyone seems to have is the unverified article and 'safety alert' published by the Chief Gas Examiner in Queensland.

(b) The Queensland state regs in effect at that time required the Gas Examiner to file a full and complete report of the incident. HyChill was (naturally) very interested in this alleged incident, and so lodged an FOI request with the Gas Examiners department for all related documents. The FOI response was that there were NO documents relating to the incident and certainly no report filed as required by QLD regulations. Plain incompetence by the very man responsible for those regs or something more sinister? No one really knows. We tried to contact the workshop through various channels and no one there would say anything to us or to other people asking on our behalf. Very strange.

(b) Even so, the article published by the Gas Examiner about the alleged incident admits that the practices of the service-person were inappropriate. In other words, if basic procedure and precautions has been adhered to, the circumstances for ignition would never have presented themselves.

The incident, if it really occurred, is regrettable. What is clear, even from the scant information available, is that the workshop practices were plainly wrong (no matter if it was HC or an f-gas), so it's a fairly long bow to draw to use this as an anti-HC proof-piece.

There have been a couple of other HC-related workshop incidents around the world in the last 15 years. There have also been a number of f-gas related incidents. The undeniable fact is that the incident rates for both types of gases are very low, and are proof that there is NOT a recurrence of safety incidents at anything like the rate that demonstrates the product is unsafe in the workshop or in operation.

I'm not saying that HyChill gas is idiot proof and totally benign. Like most products (even water and drowning), it has risks. If you want to ignore proper procedure, you can hurt yourself with this stuff. You can kill yourself with R134a too - it's been done quite a few times before.

The Queensland Gas Examiner is one of the people in Australia who has been giving HyChill a really hard time. He's bent over backwards to make it hard to use HC's in car AC in that state. A few years back he managed to get a ban up in QLD regulations. That no longer exists - he replaced it with a licensing regime for fitters.

The Queensland Gas Examiner was involved in the original staged 'Exploding Car' video that made it on to Channel 10 News back in the early 90's. It was a completely staged and flawed propaganda piece. From memory, I recall they got normal LPG and filled a wrecked car cabin full of it. They had problems getting it to ignite so they resorted to using explosive DETONATORS to get the desired visual result! Furthermore, my recall is that those detonators were supplied by the Gas Examiner himself! Such were the charades of that era. The f-gas lobby was hoping to kill HC refrigerants before they got a foothold in the market here. They lost that battle, but they are such a large a powerful lobby they may still win the war.

I repeat: There is a propaganda war going on here. The domestic fridge story is a really useful case study here. Such was the FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) created in the minds of the refrigeration industry back in the late 80's by the f-gas propaganda machine that NOT ONE fridge manufacturer would make a fridge using HC refrigerants. Yes, you'd think industry people would know better... but they're only human and fear is powerful. In order to break this deadlock, Greenpeace went and bought a run-down East-German fridge factory and started making HC fridges themselves. Their popularity broke the deadlock and showed how easy and safe it was. Fast-forward to today and you'll find that the majority of domestic fridges use HC's.

It's comforting, but incorrect, to think that people's fears can be removed by simply explaining the facts and showing good reason why their fears are unfounded. But it just aint so. This knowledge is one of the tools in the spin-doctor's toolkit. You see it used all the time - particularly in politics. The same war has moved from the field of domestic fridges (which has long since been won) and is now being fought in the car AC area.

Another tool is to flood the marketplace of ideas with so much contradicting information that people give up in frustration, not knowing what to think or who to trust, and resign themselves to just doing what everyone else does. No wonder nobody believes anybody else these days.

Hopefully I'll have some time to get on the ZX forum. 'cbzx' claims to have some kind of direct connection to the incident in Queensland, so I'd like to talk with him to get more specific information on this mysterious event. But I must say that when 'cbzx' makes really quite ridiculous statements like "There May be less Skylines soon" (inferring that they're going to explode or something when fitted with HyChill refrigerant) doesn't fill me with a great deal of confidence that this guy is all about spreading constructive and truthful information.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

John Clark

Technical Advisor

HyChill

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  • 2 weeks later...
I've got a shortlist of 6 guys from dandenong that can do it.

Did you have any luck getting this done? I've phoned around a few places and either they don't use Hychill (all have scare-stories) or they're not open Saturday mornings.

I can't find anywhere to do a Weekend re-gas!

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Did you have any luck getting this done? I've phoned around a few places and either they don't use Hychill (all have scare-stories) or they're not open Saturday mornings.

I can't find anywhere to do a Weekend re-gas!

Hi there Wyseman,

I'm on holidays at the moment so only have 'net access infrequently.

I'm sorry you're not having much luck finding anyone that will do a HyChill regas on the weekend. Naturally you will have more difficulty finding people who are open on the weekend. There's a chance they'll be a bit more expensive for weekend service too.

If you've been calling people out of the phone book, my recommendation is to get a list from Ross at HyChill instead. HyChill is in roughly about 10%-15% of cars is Australia, so that means roughly 1 in every 7 to 10 workshops use HyChill. So if you're doing a phone book search you'll strike out most of the time.

Although our database of HyChill friendly workshops doesn't include such details as whether or not they open on the weekends, Ross should be able to help you find a workshop that does what you want, when you want (or something as close as possible).

You can call Ross at 1300 HYCHILL or email him at [email protected].

Cheers

John Clark

Technical Advisor

HyChill

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Although our database of HyChill friendly workshops doesn't include such details as whether or not they open on the weekends, Ross should be able to help you find a workshop that does what you want, when you want (or something as close as possible).

Thanks,

I ended up emailing HyChill last week and got the names of a few places in Melbourne near the CBD.

I ended up going with RB Automotive in Richmond, they were open Saturday morning and did the re-gas for me.

Unfortunately their gadget to flush the system didn't work, so i got a gas only. There was a single leak which was fixed by an o-ring replacement and I now have very cold air :D

Only thing I would say is that their workshop is a little hard to get into, if my GTR was any lower, there would have been some serious scrapeage.

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how have i only found this thread now... so much information its almost an overload :D but very informative and quite astounding really.

Thanks John for all the information you have provided... i need two of my cars done and im pretty sure my mum and dad need theirs done too so i guess thats 4 cars who will be switching.

Will spread the word as i think that based on the environmental factors alone should really be pushed through to the public as much as possible and nothing spreads faster then word of mouth. Will put this on the many sites i frequent.

Cheers.

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how have i only found this thread now... so much information its almost an overload :) but very informative and quite astounding really.

Thanks John for all the information you have provided... i need two of my cars done and im pretty sure my mum and dad need theirs done too so i guess thats 4 cars who will be switching.

Will spread the word as i think that based on the environmental factors alone should really be pushed through to the public as much as possible and nothing spreads faster then word of mouth. Will put this on the many sites i frequent.

Cheers.

Hey inark,

Glad to hear you found the information valuable. I appreciate your interest in this important environmental issue and your willingness to 'spread the word'. All the best with the upcoming AC work and if you have any further issues just give HyChill a call.

Cheers

John Clark

Technical Advisor

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How much did it cost you? Where in richmond are they located, phone # ? Thinking of having mine done up aswell / Hot cars have hot/sweaty drivers without aircon : ) thanks

303 Swan St, Richmond, VIC 3121. p: (03) 9429 2397 ??

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  • 1 year later...

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