Posted by George Goble on October 12, 2001 at 16:37:07: via: ghg.ghgdevlabs.com or 206.230.0.138
In Reply to: Re: Is Hot Shot or Autofrost a good r134a replacement? posted by Wayne C. on October 12, 2001 at 07:01:00:
We say to NEVER put Autofrost (R-406A) into a system with PAG oil,
since the oil will turn black and fail in a few days...
Same for R12.. ICOR claims that Hotshot works fine in PAG oil,
although hotshot contains almost the same components as Autofrost.
If you want to see what happens to PAG oil with Hotshot look at URL
http://www.autofrost.com/hotshot
Of course Autofrost of R12 will do the same thing to non-daphne
PAG oil as well...
Autofrost was designed to use mineral oil, like R12 uses.
I invented Cooltop (GHG-X8) that was designed for cases like
you have.. PAG or POE oil and not liking R134a performance..
Also be aware that PAG oil is extremely moisture grabbing and
can easily pick up enough moisture during service and often
right out of a new bottle to make acids form and fail the
system (evap/condenser leaks) in 2-3 months down the road..
Cooltop has cryo-chem dehydrant to react out most of this moisture..
Another safe thing is to flush out all the PAG oil, remove
compressor, work mineral oil through it on the bench, recharge
with mineral oil, Autofrost, R12 or other good refrigerant.
If you want hotshot, it would be best to use AB (alkylbenzene) oil
(a highly refined form of mineral oil) that is easier to return
to the compressor than mineral oil.. mineral and AB oil are
inheritly "stable" unlike PAG or POE (ester) oils. Hotshot may not
always return mineral oil to the compressor in all cases.
Performance of Autofrost and Hotshot will both be better than
R12 and much better than R134a. Avoid the new "light green"
O-rings for anything except R134a.. they were designed as
"blend killer" O-rings.. to fail on purpose.. to force the use
of R134a.
In any cause you should probably have new barrier hoses
as 134a, autofrost and hotshot will leak faster through old
non barrier hoses..
--ghg, autofrost inventor