Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Air condition in a car needs a cooling liquid. Old ones destroy the atmosphere. So a new one was approved and 2 US companies hold the patent and are only producers. For all new cars it is the only liquid allowed. A deal of several billion dollars, it is better for environment- everyone agrees. It is save?--- and here the oponions split.

Mercedes says in an internal test they got explosions and high toxic acid in a burn.

The producer says this cannot happen. Well europe has no speed limit so engines parts can become quite hot, reaching the heat which would cause an explosion if there is a leakage like at an accident.

The producers did a new test with a smalll car and no explosion: Mercedes did neutral tests with big cars who drove a distance on the Autobahn and got the temperature needed for an explosion.

Why I wrote this....

Got an email with an invitation for a firefighter meeting. Probably to talk about the riscs for firefighters and if the firefighter union should unite to fight for a better solution, like a more expensive but safe CO2 cooling.

So if the car involved in an accident has no Mercedes star and is brand new, stay away and watch it burn ?!? Sometimes there is just no time to wear acid and gas resistant gear when arriving. We are not paid and may be called from work or home. In an extreme scenario insurance companies accept that we risc life if there are unknown dangers we couldn't know before. If we get injured or die they pay.

But at known riscs all is different... Your whidow may need an lawyer to get money, or has to pay the lawyer and gets less than nothing.

Here is the 1234stuff:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2,3,3,3-Tetrafluoropropene

What is not in the english wiki yet: Mercedes did a call back for their new cars even riscing a punishment because they refilled the now iillegal old stuff.

Link to comment

Er... Are you sure all of Europe has no speed limit? I seem to have recalled hearing on Top Gear the speed limit most everywhere in the EU is about 70 MPH. At least, that's as fast as they're allowed to go when in say, France, Italy and such. And God forbid you try speeding in Switzerland - they apparently dislike fast, shiny cars going fast.

 

Only on Germany and on the autobahn can you drive as fast as you'd like - and it's even my understanding that there are stretches of the autobahn in Germany that now have a speed limit - mostly in heavily populated parts - like around big cities like Berlin...

 

But, getting back to the topic... I seem to be out of date in the automotive refrigerant story. I recall the big hoo-ha about Freon (R-12) being banned because it destroyed ozone and caused global warming. Seems there is a stuff called R-134a which was a replacement they've been using since the 1990s - but it's got it's own set of issues - like toxic gasses and such that made it a bad substitute.

 

And then there's the new stuff.. Yeah.. This stuff sounds kind of scary. Btw, what IS in the English version of the wiki - The Merc engineers did a test - spraying lubricant and coolant onto a hot engine block and got themselves a nice big ball of fire in 2/3rds of the tests they ran simulating a head on collision. I don't blame them for risking punishment for using the old stuff.

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...
Please Sign In or Sign Up