R12...R12...where art thou R12...?

[My_Probe_Owns_Me_]

I need R12 to charge the air-conditioning on my sink-hole Probe. I cannot find a shop that has R12 here in my immediate area in South West Chicago.

Has the government effectively made the price and risk associated with R12 so high that it is no longer offered for air-conditioner recharging?

I cannot take anymore communtes in these 90+ days...

Please advise anyone, thank you

[CraigFL]

Here in Panama City, Florida we have several shops who advertise that they can recharge with Freon 12. You may want to look for a smaller independant shop. You could convert to 134 but that may be another set of problems...

[TheSilentChamber]

They stoped making it about 11 years ago. There is still some in circulation but it is expensive and hard to come by. The best thing to do is convert to r134a - this would probably cost less than having it recharged with r12.

[Cyprus106]

Yeah there's risks. Dumping the stuff, to my understanding, gets you a $10,000 fine if the government finds out. (Correct me if I'm wrong someone.) There was a guy in Saint Louis that had been dumping R12 for years and years, been a mechanic his whole life. When they looked at his receipts and such he got slapped with a 300 million dollar fine. He opted for the jail time.

[My_Probe_Owns_Me_]

Originally Posted by Cyprus106

Yeah there's risks. Dumping the stuff, to my understanding, gets you a $10,000 fine if the government finds out. (Correct me if I'm wrong someone.) There was a guy in Saint Louis that had been dumping R12 for years and years, been a mechanic his whole life. When they looked at his receipts and such he got slapped with a 300 million dollar fine. He opted for the jail time.

Story:

A hot dame goes in to the shop asking the shop to just "top-off" her air conditioning system with R12. The shop is all too happy to oblige. The babe pays the small amount for the two cans of R12, and then leaves.

Not more than a minute passes after her departure when five unmarked US Government vehicles surround the shop. The mechanic and the shop owner were arrested and a $10,000 fine was levied on the shop. The shop was not allowed to reopen until the fine was paid, and the shop was banned from further Air Conditioning repairs.

End Story:

It seems to me that it probably is not worth the headache for shop owners to deal with R12 given the substantial fines and possible incarceration.