My 10 year old chevy van air con was barely working, and was diagnosed as very low on refrigerant. the same low Air con had been happening on the boat (before i out the thrust washer from the march pump...) the AC tech showed up at my boat in erie thurs pm as planned. he could not check my AC , as the pump was not running for lack of its thrust washer. to charge my boat AC system he needed to know : : 1) what refrigerant, R12 or R22? (the marine air label and manual did not say what refrigerant was in the AC system.) around 2006 manufacturers were selling AC units with either old R 12 or new r 22, and they are incompatible with each other. 2) neither the unit's label nor the operator manual stated the range of operating PSI (pounds per square inch on the gauge.) (i thought AC guys all knew this... but they do not !) the next am, i called the dometic 'marine air' secret # for tech support about my Air con. a human answered the phone ! i told him my serial number and model. said the AC tech wanted to know what kind of refrigerant and what was the the 'operating range' of charge pressures,' tech support man looked it up, said 'glad you called, some of the older units were still shipping with R 12 if manufactured in 03 or so.. said R 22 was in mine , with 75 psi low to 210 psi max and " maximum system capacity is only 10 oz. so don't overcharge it..' .
i now am waiting on my ceramic thrust washers for my march AC pump.. then i'll get the air con march water pump working. then at the next visit the AC will be running and the air con tech can put a pressure gauge on, then charge enough new R 22 . i am glad the air con tech was a careful guy and did not want to overcharge my system. since he was on his way from a job next door he did not charge me for the 1st visit.
i now am waiting on my ceramic thrust washers for my march AC pump.. then i'll get the air con march water pump working. then at the next visit the AC will be running and the air con tech can put a pressure gauge on, then charge enough new R 22 . i am glad the air con tech was a careful guy and did not want to overcharge my system. since he was on his way from a job next door he did not charge me for the 1st visit.
