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Teknomadixtoday at 2:59 PM1 replyview on HN

I've been recharging the AC system on my vintage daily driver — a late 1960s Mercedes-Benz sedan — with common off the shelf campstove propane for 30 years. Keeps me cool regardless of outside Los Angeles heat. Requires a bit of care while doing a recharge, but it's nothing too crazy. My grandfather ran a dairy farm in Connecticut, he showed me this trick in the 80s. We used propane to keep all the cooling equipment in the milk houses running smooth back then. I'm curious about isobutane now.


Replies

londons_exploretoday at 3:20 PM

Isobutane doesn't work well unless a system is designed for it - things like different diameters for the pistons in the compressors etc.

Nearly all refrigerators/freezers in Europe are isobutane, and have been for 20 years.