My condensor died after my accident, and I replaced it. Since I had all the hoses off while replacing the condensor, and nothing came out..I'm going to assume that my A/C system is empty. Right? Can I just go ahead and add the R134A and oil, or do I have to have the whole system evacuated professionally?

I'd love to save a few bucks if I can.

 

i know you want more of a professional opinion, but I believe b/c you have replaced the condensor, all the freon has been released. I think you are essentially starting for scratch, therefore nothing to vacate.
hope that helps

 

try a search been alot of ac questions in the past 2 months. if it were me i would charge it with a couple of cans of r134 most of the stuff at the parts store has oil in it.

 

Thanks for the tips. I've been through a lot of old threads, and none of them pertain to an (assumably) empty sytem. My concern is that there may be some moisture in the system since the condensor had a big ole hole in it for some time. I'm assuming that the moisture won't mix well with the gas/oil?

Edit, did I just answer my own question?

 

If your system has been open, you also need to replace the accumulator (dryer). The old accumulator has been drawing all the moisture out of the air and is useless now.

The best method is having the system sucked down. I've done a few vehicles without vaccumin them (including my toyota truck) and they blow ice cold(40*). Buy the R134a with 2oz of oil.

 

before you charge your system you need to vacuum it. vacuuming will remove any moisture in the system. moisture is a killer for an ac system. i would also recomend replacing the dryer since you have the system open. the dryer is usually pretty cheap and an aftermarket one will be just as good as oem.

since you've done all the wrenching it should be pretty inexpensive to have a pro vacuum and charge your system plus a pro will use gauges to make sure your pressures are where there suppose to be.

so chargeing it your self is not the place to save money, hope this helped good luck

 

yeah I'd have it evaced...Although I'm not a auto mechanic I used to be an HVAC mechanic...In an A/C you need to vaccum the system down to about 500 microns before adding refrigerant. The reason being is to remove contaniments from the system ie moisture...The compressor, compresses the refrigerant, since moisture can not be compressed it is very hard on the compressor....If you were to not vaccum down the A/C in your house before adding refrigerant the compressor wouldnt last a week, nor will it cool worth a damn. Even after vaccuming a system down if you have ports on a dryer (helps catch moisture in the system) you can measure a pressure difference on either side, which means it still picked up some moisture....By vaccuming the system down the moisture boils off and is slowly pulled out....Even blowing refrigerant through the system in its entire wont displace all the moisture....

But like I said I'm not an auto mechanic and although the theory of cooling is the same the mechanics of it are probably slightly different....

 

Thanks everybody, I'll pick up a new dryer tomorrow and have it evac'ed!

 

Exactly what him and Cynicx said. Also you may want to see about jetting some denatured alchohol to clean the sytem out fully and run compressed air through it to completely dry the lines and everything out.

 

If you've had damage, definately evacuate the system and change the dryer. I would hold a vac on it for a while to be sure it doesn't have any leaks. After you have changed the dryer and your system has held a vac, then you are ready to add refrigerant.
<hijack> The price of r134 has gone up, hasn't it? I had freeze 12 put in mine last week, and my buddy with the HVAC machine told me that both types of refrigerant have gone up </hijack>

 

If you have a good sized compressor you can vacuum it out yourself. I bought one of those cheap venturi type vacuum pumps from harbor freight for $10. Then I hit napa for a vacuum pump conversion fitting ($17) to get the pump to connect to my 134a gauge set. That crappy little $10 venturi pump drew 30" of vacuum on the system @80psi and held it just fine. I pulled it down for about 30 mins then shut the valve and let the system sit in a vacuum state for another hour to make sure there where no leaks.

 

My local Napa store was not familiar with the Vacuum Pump Conversion Fitting, do you have a part#

 

11 year old thread you might wait quite a while for your answer .

Just what are you trying to do??

 

Hi, I was trying to vacuum and recharge a car a/c system without a traditional vacuum pump.

 

What were you trying to use instead???

 

I was going to purchase a ventri pump and the vacuum pump conversion fitting so I could pull a vacuum through my a/c gauges, but the Napa I went to was not familiar with the vacuum pump conversion fitting and asked for a part#.

 

I never heard of it either .

Feel free to enlighten us !!!

 

Have a pro vacuum it down and fill with the correct ammount of freon and oil.
Condensation in the lines could be a killer after a system is opened. Not worth the torment of doing it twice.

 

Yeah, that X2

 

Or spend the money you would have given to a pro to buy a decent 2-stage vacuum pump from Harbor Freight. I broke even the first time, but that was a few years ago and I've done three cars since. Good investment.