Freon Versus R134A

Freon Versus R134A!

To be honest, we might have billed this as a super fight … but really it is a bit one-sided! Freon is what used to make your car's air conditioning system work, taking the heat out of the air, and R134A is the non-ozone depleting gas that is used to replace it. The two substances have very similar properties -- if you have ever wondered exactly how a refrigerant works, we are going to look at them in terms of automotive air conditioning.

Freon is actually a trade name, not a chemical name. The term is owned by DuPont, who used to make refrigerant gases from this chlorofluorocarbon from the 1930s until the 1970s. When scientists began to uncover that the depletion of the ozone layer around the Earth could in part be attributed to chlorofluorocarbon use (even though DuPont heartily disputed this!), Freon in automotive air conditioning systems as well as fridges and home a/c had to be replaced. As far as auto a/c is concerned, Freon was an improvement over the previous alternatives, which not only harmed the environment but were highly toxic. Ammonia, chloromethane and sulphur dioxide were all booted out of the air con world when Freon came along.

The name R134A is hardly as catchy or exciting as the stuff that was used previously. It is much better than its technical chemical name of 1,1,1,2-Tetrafluoroethane, though! R134A is the new standard refrigerant gas for automotive air conditioning, and while it works similarly to Freon, if your car has a R134A air conditioning system, you are able to charge your a/c by yourself. Freon systems need to be recharged by licensed professionals. People off the street can't buy Freon for recharge. You'll still need to be careful when recharging your own a/c, though -- contact with R134A can cause frostbite.

It was once billed as the safe alternative to Freon, but new research is uncovering that R134A is hardly blameless in environmental degradation. It has been found to contribute to climate change, and the EU is banning its use in new cars from 2011. Engineers are proposing that HFO-1234yf replace R134A in automotive air conditioning (the names are getting worse and worse, aren’t they?). We once thought that R134A had no effect on the environment, but new research has uncovered that the tetrafluoroethane actually converts trifluoroacetic acid when it mixes with gases in the upper atmosphere. It can also cause mild acid rain in some tests -- youch!

You only need to buy what your auto air conditioner specialist recommends, though -- they'll be updated with regulations, as well as products that are formulated to be best for your system.