Refrigerants and Their Availability

In 1993, auto makers began using R134a refrigerant in new-vehicle air conditioning systems. Yet in early 1996 there are still an estimated 90-150 million vehicles in service that use R12 as a refrigerant in their systems. Now that R12 can no longer be produced legally, the price of this refrigerant is rising, and cheap substitutes and illegal supplies are appearing on the market.

As of this writing, there are only three EPA-approved alternatives to R12. These are R134a, R401c, and FRIGC. These refrigerants, including R12 are not interchangeable and cannot be mixed in a system. Because of the high cost of R134a and the rising prices of diminishing field stocks of R12, other refrigerants, sometimes called "drop-in" refrigerants, are appearing on the market. Some of these are mixtures that can contain impure R12 or R22 (a commercial refrigerant not used in auto A/C systems), or mixtures of flammable hydrocarbons such as butane and propane. Impure R12 can have adverse effects on A/C systems and service equipment.