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ROBY, when the blends wuit separating and the prices drop to what a freon oughta cost ... and when some contractors get their head out of their ....you know where .. and return to charging for refrigerant what we all used to charge a customer for refrigerant ... and not this $25 a pound for R22 thing ....

And when we dont have to reclaim any longer .... and when the makers of those cheesey steel drums take those stupid one way check valves OUT .....

And when the various choises of refrigerants out there have some form of cross compatibility engineered into them so we dont have to rip the customer a new behind every time we come across some idiots work where he didnt mark his gas type .... and we have to bite the bullet and pull the gas, dispose of the gas, replace the drier and evacuate the system, recharge with whatever it is we are using at the moment on our trucks ... for that temp application ...


Then I'll cut them new gases some slack ... until then .. I will only use them-properly and endure them-bitterly.

What the chemical companies have done to us service men is akin to what the pharmecuticals have done to the doctors in the medical industry!


And we dont need to follow their example any longer.

Originally posted by frozensolid
Phosgene Gas must be addictive. Why else would we all still be doing this

We !re looked and smelled like a bunch of alien

Phosgene Gas must be addictive. Why else would we all still be doing this

Also used to get a kick out of it when I blew out condensers in commercial kitchens with r-12, the old days, and the ovens were on, the hood drew the gas up over the flames and all the cooks would freak out.
They used to think that is what freeeeezone smelled like.

I heard over the years that Hitler used Phosgene in the gas chambers. Worst day I ever had with it was trying to fix a leak on a 80 ton chiller in a closed mechanical room, it's a miracle I didn't keel over.

Ain't nothing like the smell of fosgene gas in the morning to clean out the sinuses, nose hairs, brain cells and lung tissue!!

Fosgene gas...What a Mess!!

Bob - only the 'real' refrigerants make phosgene when overheated. Maybe you should give the new ones a chance after all! :-)

Short term effects- gasp, gag, cough and get the hell out into some fresh air because it will kill you. Long term effects- I hope not because I have had too many lung fulls of that stuff.

I use a 3M half mask with some acid gas cartridges recommended by my safety supply house, they work like a champ. One repair that was particularly bad I could feel my skin start to sting but couldn’t smell or feel a thing in my respiratory system.

Goto http://www.refrigerants.com/msds.htm check on the dangers of "phosgene and other ugly stuff created by refrigerants

Had a few similar bad leaks to repair, just hook a vacum pump back at the schraeders at rack if so equipped that worked well for me. If you can get at the schraeders on other cases on the system pull them but leave the one in on the case your working on might help too.

this may sound silly but what are some of the effects of

fosgene gas short term like just a couple exposures and

some repeated exposures, long term effects and such

I am just gathering all this info about rack systems. I hear y'all tellin about welding on lines and havin the gas bleedin thru the ball valves.

Well hey, cant you simply sweat a pair of schraders, one upstream of the repair area and one downstream of the area to be welded.

Have one used to hook up a vacuum pump and the other used to introduce some nitrogen.

I know this would take a balancing act to get it correct , mixture wise ... but it would be far better than infecting yourself with fosgene gas all the time.


What are your tips/ techniques/ strategies for accomplishing a welded repair .... as painless as possible?