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Question on synthetic freon

awg1011 on Thu June 28, 2007 7:54 AM User is offline

My wife went to buy the freon at a large national parts store chain and they were out of R134a but they had synthetic that cost twice as much. She asked what the difference was besides costing twice as much and the guy replied that the air is 14% colder, so she went to the next large national chain on the next block and they had pleanty of R134a.

Is there any advantages or disadvantages to using synthetic freon?

I don't plan on using it, I was just wondering.

Thanks.

mk378 on Thu June 28, 2007 10:21 AM User is offline

All R134a is synthetic. The only R134a molecules found in nature are the ones that man released. It's hype. There may be an additive in those cans that is claimed to improve performance. But really, if something that simple would make it noticeably colder, wouldn't the car makers have put it in in the first place? It's like all those gadgets that are supposed to increase mileage.

TRB on Thu June 28, 2007 10:24 AM User is offlineView users profile

Need a little more information other than "synthetic freon". Maybe it was one of the many HC refrigerants which is flammable refrigerant banned in the US as a replacement for R12.

Check out this link on HC refrigerants. Takes a little while to load but it shows what can happen in a worse case situation.

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Edited: Thu June 28, 2007 at 10:25 AM by TRB

OldSchool1 on Tue August 21, 2007 1:08 AM User is offlineView users profile

Quote
Originally posted by: TRB
...
Check out this link on HC refrigerants. Takes a little while to load but it shows what can happen in a worse case situation.
When I saw the box of matches in his hand, I stopped breathing.

The film is TRULY worth the wait.

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"All of this is assuming that everything else in the system is stock and well maintained."

- © The Lincoln Mark VII Club All rights reserved.

Chick on Tue August 21, 2007 5:18 AM User is offlineView users profile

If you could find out the "R" number, or numbers like ES12 etc.. on that refrigerant, we could tell you what it is.. But you were smart to find virgin R123a...

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Chick
Email: Chick

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Freedoms just another word for nothing left to lose

Kester 245 on Tue August 21, 2007 8:19 AM User is offline

I saw what he is talking about. It comes in a 13oz can. It promotes the word "synthetic". As stated above, 134a IS synthetic and its either 134 or its not. After looking on the company's website I found that it contains 11oz of 134a and 2oz of a proprietary lubricant. So its nothing magical and no surprise.
A competing company advertises 50% colder on their magic can. Read it carefully and it says ...faster. I'm sure its neither colder or faster especially since it has sealer in it.
Stick with straight 134a.

mk378 on Tue August 21, 2007 1:03 PM User is offline

"Synthetic" brake fluid also makes me laugh. It's like the "digital ready" speakers and headphones that came out shortly after CD players were introduced. Now there are "digital ready" TV antennas, which are of course exactly the same ones that have been sold for decades for analog TV reception.

Test Specimen on Tue August 21, 2007 1:12 PM User is offline

The word 'synthetic' for this product is describing the lubricant used in the formulation. People are more willing to spend money on a synthetic lubricant than one not described as synthetic. The synthetic word is not used when describing R-134a, except by those marketing 'natural' refrigerants like hydrocarbons. In that case they are using 'synthetic' in a negative fashion. Go figure how the same word can be taken so differently.

I've seen the raw data for the "Up to 14% increase" product in cooling performance, and it is real. Not every system will see that much benefit, but some will depending on how much crud has built up on the interior surface of the heat exchangers. For those that don't see the immediate benefit in improved cooling performance, they will not see as big of a drop off in cooling performance as the system ages.

I have never seen data on the "Up to 50% increase" claim and have no idea how they got to that number. Thermodynamics suggest that amount of improvement is not possible. They may have found a way to bend a few laws of thermodynamics - or they bent something else instead.

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