News - Contaminated R134a Refrigerant

Last updated 31/01/2012 04:28 PM Article Ref: 1680

Tuesday 31/01/2012 04:28 PM

Contaminated R134a Refrigerant

Autoclimate, as a major supplier of R134a refrigerant into the UK automotive market, are well aware of the situation regarding contaminated refrigerant originating from the Far East. This is not coming from genuine refrigerant manufacturers, but rather “middlemen” who are counter-fitting under well known manufacturer names – simply, they are diluting the refrigerant by adding impurities to the R134a. Adding impure R134a into a vehicle system will lead to poor a/c performance, parts damage, and health and safety risks if any contact is made with the refrigerant

Disposable Cylinders
The situation has been restricted to DOT 39, 30lb disposable cylinders filled in the Far East. Refrigerant manufacturers since July 2007 have not legally been allowed to fill disposable cylinders for sale in the EU – so be wary of any being offered to you. Autoclimate own and monitor their own fleet of refillable cylinders for full traceability.

Quality Product
All bulk deliveries which Autoclimate receive are analysed prior to discharge by our suppliers Harp, and all filled cylinders are “batch” approved to the highest quality specification. When purchasing R134a from Autoclimate, you are guaranteed quality, pure refrigerant, every time.

HFO-1234yf + R134a
In 2017 European legislation will see Car Manufacturers start to produce all of their vehicles with the new replacement for R134a, HFO-1234yf, however up until that point vehicles with R134a a/c systems can still be produced (if homologated before 2012) and research data suggests that at least 60% of vehicles in circulation in 2019 will have an R134a system so it is important to have a good R134a refrigerant management station to be able to continue servicing them.