I've heard multitudes of stories about decompressing the Air Conditioning system. How if you decompress it, it can do some serious cold hurtin' to your hands or whatever else. What should I do to prevent this from happening?

 

Gidday,
Well your car may have R12 gas in it which is harmful to the ozone layer and legally you need to recover the gas not let it go. But a screwdriver on the valve should do the trick, provided you don't bend the needle

 

If you are trying to remove the AC system just pull off a line and remove the damn thing. You car is at least 10 years old and the AC is on its last legs. When I took mine out there was not even enough pressure in the system to force out more than a few drops of goo.

 

TT IS A$10,000 FINE TO RELEASE ANY CAR A/C GAS INTO THE ATMOSPHERE.
And you would be ******* up our planet.
Take it to a garage and let them do it.

 

R-12 referigerant is harmful to the ozone. There is more concern regarding the danger to an inexperienced person trying to remove the gas.

R-12 or any other refrigerant gas can instantly blind a person should it get into your eyes. It will also freeze shin causing frostbite.

A recovery system should be used to "drain" the system, but if you insist on doing it yourself at least use a set of gauges so the rate of decompression can be controlled.

 

I was told that the refrigerant is actually heavier than air, sure it breaks down ozone, but when it equalizes temperatures and all that jazz, it's heavier and sinks towards the ground, where it is decomposed by some sort of bacteria in the ground (yes, some sort of bacteria does decompose the refrigerant).

 

Thats incorrect for R12 and R22 refrigerents. It is lighter than air when not under pressure.

Some freon cleaners (used for parts washing and sterlizing) are heavier than air but that is not what cars use.

 

so, does anyone sell a kit or something to decompress these suckers? Some way I can trap most of the coolant without any danger of freezing myself to death?

 

all automotive tool companies have refrigerant recovery/recycling machines. unfortunately this is not a hose and can kit. it is a machine which removes the refrigerant and recovers it to a high pressure cylinder. which can be reused or recycled. A typical automotive system has less than 2 pounds of refrigerant when it is fully charged. If you are not going to take it to a service shop and have them remove the refrigerant(only legal and correct way) then depress the service valve(looks like a large tire valve) and release the refrigerant or use a set of A/C guages and release the gas through the service hose. it will only take a couple seconds and as long as you keep it out of your eyes and stay away from the liquid as it is release you should be able to survive the experience. my suggestion is to take it to a shop and have them remove the gas. if the system is still in good working order they may remove the gas for free if they can keep the gas for no charge. check around at some of the auto A/C shops.

 

I'm not that I'm being lazy about it.. I'd take it to a place but I don't have any means to get it TO the place right now. You say there's gauges for it that'll allow it to come out slowly?

 

I would never admit to having drained an A/C system with a screwdriver, and I will never tell you how cool it is to acidently drop a frozen screwdriver and see it shatter.

 

yes, the same sort of guages a mechanic would use to check the system pressures can be used to drain the system. basicly a set of hoses connected to a manifold with valves to allow different hoses to be connected together. then you connect one hose to the system open the valve on the manifold and the gas can be released through one of the hoses on the manifold, normally the center hose. this allows you to regulate the flow. again this was once common practice, but is now considered venting and is a federal crime. most automotive and tool shops have these for sale.