Help On A Refrigerant Fix

[atavist]

I've got an old 1979 adler barbour cold machine that was never converted to R134. I have R12 and the automotive R12 kit but this doesn't fit my adlar barbour couplings... they are much bigger, sometype of commercial/domestic fittings I presume... I tried to find an R134 adapter for these but no one local has anything, only automotive stuff... does anyone know of a R134 converstion kit for the cold machine or an R12 quick couple for the automotive fill hose.

thanks,

J

[redbopeep]

Originally Posted by atavist

I've got an old 1979 adler barbour cold machine that was never converted to R134. I have R12 and the automotive R12 kit but this doesn't fit my adlar barbour couplings... they are much bigger, sometype of commercial/domestic fittings I presume... I tried to find an R134 adapter for these but no one local has anything, only automotive stuff... does anyone know of a R134 converstion kit for the cold machine or an R12 quick couple for the automotive fill hose.

thanks,

J

Oh, yea, we had to do that with our car a couple years back. When David gets back (moving wood from the boatyard to our storage garage...) I'll ask him where we got the right stuff--seems like it was someplace online specializing in these things. I'll get back to you later on that....We had the vac pump and gages for use with home systems and automotive systems and I recall there are a few different fittings to choose from. Of course, all that stuff is in storage in Maryland...

Also, you can track down your system's manual Adler Barbour is also WAECO, which was purchased by Dometic... google?

Finally, you really need to be sure that the new refrigerant is sufficient for your older system. R12 is more efficient, so you're system will have to be oversized a bit to work very well with the R134. The only way you'd know this is to get in touch with the company, or if it was standard equipment on your boat, the users group.owner group for your boat may help out there, too.

Good luck

later,

[atavist]

yeah, it's the psi differences with R134 that had me wanting to stay with R12... my system is old and only runs at 8psi on the low side... with R134 I think I have to go 12 psi... which may be too much for the seals... .... I tried the 1979 phone number for adler barbour listed in my manual but no good... it's somebodies voicemail now lol... I'll see if I can get in touch with Waeco.

thanks

[osirissailing]

You really do not want to do any converting from R-12 to R-134 unless you are an expert and have all the vacuum pumps, new seals, etc. The two gases are not compatible and use different lubricants and pressure settings. That is why they made the fittings different between R-12 and R-134 systems. It is to prevent you from putting the wrong gas in the system. Just like the different size holes for fill your car gas tank between old leaded gas and the newer no-lead gasoline.

It would probably be more cost-effective to just replace your system with one of the new totally self-contained DC systems. I ripped out all my old systems plumbing, pipes and pumps and replaced them with a single 12"x12" pallet containing compressor, electric cooling fan and all the controls. Then put a new cold-plate in the box and hooked them together with the auto-sealing pipes. The only thing the systems needs is 12VDC electricity and is a fraction of the size of the old system.

[redbopeep]

Originally Posted by atavist

yeah, it's the psi differences with R134 that had me wanting to stay with R12... my system is old and only runs at 8psi on the low side... with R134 I think I have to go 12 psi... which may be too much for the seals... .... I tried the 1979 phone number for adler barbour listed in my manual but no good... it's somebodies voicemail now lol... I'll see if I can get in touch with Waeco.

thanks

Hey, neither hubby nor I can find the info on the internet site we bought stuff from--sorry. Back a couple years ago, when we did this, there was lots of info in the web because so many folks were converting cars, frig's etc.

Hubby states the site was one which was geared towards professionals though--that he remembers. Further, you could get the needed license to charge w/R12 via this site, it was sort of weird...

I know that doesn't help, but good luck.

Oh, and pressure--yea you probably really need to talk to the mfr of your system to make sure it can be converted. I was in reference to capacity and cooling efficiency as well.

Best to you,