Charging a window AC unit with the wrong refrigerant (R-152A) 

This is R-152a in this video, which can be gotten at any store. It is the "electronic duster" stuff which is used to blow dust out of things. R-134a can also be gotten without a license. I do have a reserve of proper R-22 as well, you can normally just scrape Craigslist or Marketplace and find someone to sell it to you, or in my case get a cheap recovery machine and suck the refrigerant out of modern junk units which are going to the scrap pile.

Hey, if it works, and keeps the unit from the scrap pile for a while, is it really an incorrect repair?

@@WalterKnoxno, R152a is good replacement refrigerant and cheap

@@HDXFH For R-12 it is pretty much a drop in replacement. The pressures are different for R-22 though. This particular unit is dead because it leaked too fast and wasn’t really worth tracing it down, but I do have another one that is going on around 4 or 5 years now of use with 152a in the 22 system, and it is working fine still.

That is most likely that is the case... however, I did not put 2 cans in. At most I put one can in if not less, the second can almost all leaked out because of the issues I was having with the hoses. Like mentioned (I think) in the video, I did go on the side of overcharging it because the unit has a leak somewhere as it was almost completely empty to begin with, and those valves leak anyway. I have not turned the unit on in a while, but I wouldn't be surprised if it has already leaked out. This video was just for fun to see what it would do as opposed to actually trying to fix this unit. If it lasts any amount of time that is a plus, but I fully expect it to already be flat just from sitting. The unit was already scrap either way. If I were actually trying to fix it, I would certainly be much more careful and precise with what I was doing.

@@WalterKnox "R152a also has superior thermodynamic characteristics to R134a and HFOs. The heat transfer coefficient of the refrigerant in evaporators is increased by about 20% due to the better physical properties of R152a compared to R134a. Due to the lower gas viscosity, the pressure drop in the suction lines will be reduced by 30%. The lower molecular weight of R152a gives it a high latent heat of vaporisation, a higher volumetric efficiency of the compressor, and a better COP performance of the refrigeration cycle, with a higher discharge temperature of about 10K compared to R134a. The working pressure of R152s is slightly lower (-10%) than that of R134a for the same evaporating temperature. However, its cooling capacity is equivalent (-1% compared to R134a), so R152a could be used in the same refrigeration system as a substitute for R134a. In practice, by combining all the factors in the same refrigeration system, the energy efficiency of R152a is 20% higher than that of R134a, and even higher than that of R1234yf. Also, in the same system, the reduction of the R152a refrigerant charge is 40% by weight due to the lower molecular weight"

@@WalterKnox That's cool, I get it. Thanks for sharing. I've tried to post some data on 152a, but YT keeps eating my comments.

@@WaffleStaffel youtube is abnoying that way. it looks like your last one posted just fine though. thanks.

​​​@@WaffleStaffel Having run R152a in multiple R134a systems it greatly outperforms the R134a. Lower pressures, quicker pull down and cooler idle temps. Actually have seen a huge difference in performance in 5 different systems and two were dual evaporator systems that were factory R134a. Performance and pressures ars similar to R12 but not as good as R290/R600a in a 50/50 mix. Nothing works as well as R290/R600a TBH.

Hi, I charged it as a liquid slowly. it seemed to do okay that way. I don't think that would cause your issue though if you charged enough in. I can't say I know much about car systems, but I can say that R-152A has characteristics more like the really old R-12. In fact it is a drop in replacement. One of these characteristics is that it runs at a lower pressure like in an R-12 system. It seems to work okay in this machine, which is designed to work with R-22, but R-410A systems are designed to run at even higher pressures, so that could be the issue as well. Although I have never seen a car designed to run on R-410A, normally that is R-134A, and I HAVE put R-152A in a car system designed for 134A and it worked just fine, so I cannot say what exactly your issue is there. Both times I charged as a liquid. I know for R-410A it has to be charged as a liquid because it is a blend, but as far as I know, 152A is not.

@@WalterKnox So blended refrigerants require charging as liquids. Makes sense. Read one gas was R-32 and another mix. Think it was 410a maybe?

@@WalterKnox I added one can of R-152A to my car. Takes 1.4lbs of R-134A or 14.3oz of R-152. One full can, I get 25psi on the low and roughly 200psi on the high. That should be an under charged condition, BUT pressures look good. Get 46F at 1800rpm. If I add 5 more ounces the pressures just rise. One can of R-152A is 10 net ounces. So I have roughly 9oz in the car minus flushing lines prior to releasing gas into the system. I've kept adding slowly till I get 300psi on the high and 50 on the low. Get around 45F. Just not working in my car. 2 hour+ vacuum with no leaks. New drier....... Guess I will vacuum again and put the R134A back in.

@@jimdavidson5208 yeah, i dont see why it wouldnt work, but that is always a risk when using something other than what is designed to run in the system. i ran 152A in a 134A system and it seemed to run fine, but different systems will react differently. i am not too familiar with car ac systems, so i can really say.

​​​@@jimdavidson5208 I have run R152a in 5 different vehicles. Cools noticeably better than R134a. Takes roughly 50-65% the R134a charge. Pressures similar to R12 in a pressure/temperature/humidity chart. My 4.25 lb R134a system in my Express van takes 36oz of R152a. If preasures just rise and no additional cooling, you were already overcharnged.

Yeah, as I mentioned, I did it on a 2002 ranger myself, and that is about the result I came up with.

it says very clearly that this video is for ENTERTAINMENT ONLY. This is not an instructional or how to video. Nothing in this video is the correct way of doing things and should not be followed.

Yeah, it does have bitterant in it. It is not pleasant to say the least. The blockage was actually caused by the rubber o ring on my hose, it was shredding and falling apart and ended up blocking the line.

@@WalterKnox What about the irony that the Government Paid Scientist claim the chlorine in these refrigerants that actually weighs too much to make it to the Stratosphere to the Ozone Layer, is so dangerous it's offered in a dispersencer for dusting? What more proof do you need the the EPA is full of shit? I wont complain to load because I love canned air & don't want them to ban it to but sometimes the evidence of Government Paid Scientific Theory fraud is things we already know about.

Charge via a filter drier

Yeah, I have done 2 of them since this video. They all still work just fine except for the one in this video, because it had a leak in the coil, so it leaked back down in around a month.

I am glad you enjoyed it.

what about it?

@@WalterKnox it almost got hit by a blade

@@Rayray_unicornplayz567 not really.

Yeah, it works fine. It is a drop in replacement for R-134a and is actually better at transferring heat, so you can use less of it. It is also a good option for replacing R-12. I used it in my 1989 Volvo 240, my 1992 Volvo 240, and my mother's 2002 Ford ranger. All of them work as good if not better than they did on R-134a (the 2 Volvos had been converted from R-12, but had leaks so I fixed them and charged with 152A). In this case of the Window unit which used R-22, it worked okay but took forever to build head pressure to the point where it was properly working (around 10 minutes). Although that unit in this video ended up leaking back out, so I scrapped it.

@@WalterKnox All you have to do to get the correct charge is multiply the R134A amount by 0.66 and so far that's always worked for me.

@@MrBooMY3 I think I did .64, but either way, about that did just fine in my R-12 and R-134 systems.

The gauges I was using to charge the system? Those were the cheapest set of gauges I could find on eBay. They work, but I wouldn’t trust them for precision as the low side gauge sticks sometimes.

They aren't old, just cheap and I guess that o ring failed. None of the other ones had, just that part of the charging hose.

The best air conditioners out there are the vintage ones that last decades. I will take a 1960s Fedders weather wheel, or a Philco Noiseless over any modern unit any day. I do agree with you about r152 though; I use it in all of my cars in place of r-12 or r-134.

@@WalterKnox The iron giants do have a place, yes, they were much higher quality. But, if you were to engineer one from scratch for highest efficiency and all of the comfortable features, probably the newer units do well too. Do you have any wattage/tonnage numbers for those older ones you mentioned??? Dont judge me, im using a toshiba 14k portable inverter unit, it does about as well as I would expect. Just because the home ducts need re insulation and id use about twice the power with the central vs portable. On the box 14.7 ceer which is the highest ive seen portable ones. I would like a cop of 8 on my units but that takes a whole entire re-engineer of the compressors, fans and evaporators, but it could be done.

@@RobertSchmitt-u7l it depends on the unit. My 1984 Hotpoint Quietaire I am using now in the bedroom has an EER of 7.5(iirc) which is about as low as I have seen. Most of them are around 9 or so. Which is lower, but not too much so. They are also generally quieter, smoother, work better, and last way longer. I don’t remember the exact model, but the most efficient window unit ever made was made by Friedrich in the 70s. The truth is that most of the older stuff would qualify to be “energy star” certified if there was an energy star at the time they were made, but of course there wasn’t.

For an R-22 system, you probably should. Although you really shouldn't charge a system with the wrong refrigerant snyway if it is something you really care about. But no, I did not; I just put the bullet valve on it and put the gas in it. In this case, it only worked a while because the system, was leeking too fast. I did do the same thing on an old Kenmore unit except with R-134a back in 2020, and it is now going on it's 4th cooling season since I have done it, and it has never shown any signs of failing. Just like this, it is really just an experiment to see how long it will last and how well it will work with the wrong refrigerantand the original oil, and isn't something I would do on anything you care about or is critical if it fails. Having said that though, if it only has a very slow leak, and you can get the bullet piercing valve to seal; it has proven at least in the 2 cases that I have used it that it will bring a dead unit back to life, so if you have nothing else to loose it may be worth a shot. (R-152a is cheap, and a set of manifold gagues, a can tap, and a piercing valve are also cheap.)

Keep your day job.

@@BrianHelmick You mean the job in HVAC work for several years now? I have no plans on doing so... Or did you mean the job I do on the weekends where I own part of a company where we sell computer parts, and as a side job brought in just under $60k last year? OH... this is some lame attempt at being edgy, yeah, it doesn't work out; good try though. I guess you shouldn't quit your day job in hopes of becoming a comedian. You see, This is simply an experiment on old junk which was going to the scrap bin anyway; I am not dumping good R-22 into an old leaking garbage window shaker. As mentioned several times in the video, description, and this comments section; this is not the correct way to do things and I am aware of that. Not that I expect you to understand anything being said, or comprehend anything written down that isn't a snarky one liner on the internet.