News and Notes - Air Coniditioner Freon Alert! In some areas of the country, especially in the southeast and the west coast, an epidemic (of sorts) is growing. It seems that due to the increased cost of the now depleting supply of R12, the refrigerant used in pre-1994 model Hondas and Acuras (and all other cars as well), some "less than honorable" folks are using liquid propane or "LP" gas as refrigerant. The relatively inexpensive LP gas actually works in a similar way to the R12 but with one obviously serious difference. In frontal collisions (the most common), one of the first items to become damaged is the condenser core, the "radiator" for the air conditioner system and the drop off point for the heat from inside the vehicle. Since the pressures inside the a/c system can get very high, upwards of 350 p.s.i., at the time of a collision and subsequent rapid loss of gas from a rupture in the lines or condenser core, a serious fire hazard now exists. As if that weren't bad enough, other substances either replacing or being mixed with the R12 can contaminate not only your vehicle's air conditioning system, but every reclamation machine that attaches to the tainted vehicle. Working in a similar manner to a virus, the contamination can spread throughout an entire region's vehicle fleet. We have obtained a rather accurate "refrigerant identifier" that samples the refrigerant in the a/c system for analysis. A printout is also available showing the exact percentages and type of chemical compounds found in the sample. We use this machine on each vehicle prior to attachment of our reclamation equipment not only to protect our machines, but yours too.