Ed Scherer

Can you use an inexpensive recovery machine (I've got an Appion G5 Twin) to replace the refrigerant you removed earlier?

The instructions don't mention this use, but it seems like if I use the recovery machine to move the refrigrant to an empty cylinder, I should just be able to reverse the connections to replace the charge (via the high side, I assume, since it's probably largely liquid) back into the A/C system later. Seems like it'd do a nice job of getting as much as possible out of the cylinder, which I could then store completely empty again.

Does that work?

ROG100

The one I have removes the R12 and stores it.
It vacuums the system down and purges it. Recovers the oil separately.
Allows you to weigh the amount of Freon charge and charges it.

ROG100

Reading the instructions it only mentions recovery - but??

Ed Scherer

The whole reason I'm doing this is to get the R12 out so I can fix an oil problem (too much oil, and I'm going to switch from ester to mineral).

ROG100

I can't see why you could not just pull the R12 back into the system the same as tapping a can.

Ed Scherer

BTW, Roger, I got those extra gaskets just in time yesterday. Thanks for the quick service! Water bridge is now replaced. The entire TB/WP job is done, so I'm moving on to the A/C stuff before I fire it up again. It's a little easier to get to some of the A/C components before I put the fan shroud and upper radiator hose back.

Ed Scherer

Yeah, but that'll leave a bunch of gas in the cylinder pressurized the same as the low side, right?

Rob Edwards

Does the capture machine separate out the oil and the refrigerant, and is there some kind of dessicant or filter/drier on the system that 'cleans' the refrigerant? Assuming yes to both, then you could measure the oil, add back that volume. Then pull a vac on the system, make sure it holds, then you can turn your refrigerant bottle upside down and fill by weight via the high side with the engine off (then wait 10-15 min for it to equilibrate thru the system before starting the car....) . This also assumes that you have sufficient weight of refrigerant in the recovery tank.

Sorry, lots of assumptions on my part.. This all begs the question, if you had a full charge before, (necessary to have a full charge at the end), why were you into the system in the first place? And if you lose any refrigerant in the process of capturing and purging lines, aren't you going to be low at the end?

If I had a capture unit, I think I'd just capture the old and refill with new. (I picked up an empty 50 lb recycling cylinder on Ebay for $35, just need to justify needing a capture unit.... ) Other than the hassle of disposing of what you capture properly, at $10 a pound for virgin R12, it's hard to justify the hassle of recycling it properly.

Ed Scherer

No separator; I thought the oil would stay in the system. Is that not so? I'm using an in-line filter/drier on the input side as recommended by Appion.

I've got about 2 to 4 extra ounces of oil in the system, and it's killing its efficiency (not very cold). This was due to me mistakenly adding oil to the system beyond what it needed (long story) before which it was actually operating quite well. Unfortunately, I actually don't know exactly how much is in there (there was an, uh, "incident" involving an unknown amount of oil being blown out), but I know it's too much.

If I had some way of removing about 3 ounces of oil without disturbing anything else, I'd do that. It'd save a load of time on doing a recover/flush/recharge.

Yeah, I've got enough virgin R12 on hand to refill, so I can do that, too.


I'm just vacuuming the cylinder, so there's time to change my plan if necessary.

irisrei08

I using Refrigerant Recovery Machine. I read about many blogs or post about it. You also check this for your problem. Surely, you get the best solution.