As a result of recent agreements and US compliance to the Kyoto greenhouse agreements, it looks like R-134 is on the way out and is targeted for complete phase out in a few years. There is a new proposed gas, HF-1234yf, that is better for the atmosphere and similar to R-134 in efficiency, but not close enough to let you pump out the 134 and replace it with the new stuff.

Some of the equipment makers are saying 134 is not targeted for phase out, but since GM has announced that they are switching over to the new stuff, you can bet it is on its way. Here's the GM announcement: http://media.gm.com/content/media/us/en/news/news_detail.brand_gm.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2010/July/0723_refrigerant

just another way for government to screw us steal from us and dictate to us that we must spend hundreds to thousands of dollars each totalling millions as a pool to industry and the government to force us into a new product we dont need or want. and once again there is no democracy. we have no say, nor the right to have a vote. there was nothing wrong with r12. i still have my own guages, fillers, and even a small supply remaining for 1 of mine. the idiot i got my '78 camino from had already dont the "switch" but ive been bugged by constant leaks and keep refilling and sealing it. sorry im off subject. the r12 was the best. the coldest ive ever used and the fastest on the hot days in my '77 t-bird. the whole thing was and still is a scam by the government and business to screw our pockets again. it wont stop. a few years later, they will do the same thing yet again. ill buy a few dozen containers of 134 to add to my collection so i wont have to switch anything. for a long, long time.
by the way, merry christmas everyone!

Doug: We may not like it and we may not have asked for it, but it is on its way. I am a certified refrigerant tech, so I can still buy R-12 as long as it exists. I have quite a bit on my shelves, but the bottom line is that they are not making it any more, so once what is out there is gone, it is gone. But once they phase out R-134, it will be the same way. So, I'd advise all of you with R-12 systems to keep them R-12 rather than pay the cost to go with R-134, just to find out in a few years that it R-134 is no longer on the store shelves.

FWIW, the cost for the switch from R-12 to R-134 is estimated to have cost 8.7 billion and counting.

I don't think R12 would have been replaced if there was nothing wrong with it. And replacing R134A is likely the next step in cleaning up our air environment. And if we ignore what the EPA controls, corporations will just dump stuff as they please, like they did in the early days.

I don't like all the environmental friendly laws either, but lets leave this world better than we found it (for our kids and grandkids)
Donny

YOU DONT NEED NO STINKING A/C BUNCH OF DARN SISSYS LMAO:beer:

YOU DONT NEED NO STINKING A/C BUNCH OF DARN SISSYS LMAO:beer:
We're stinking cause with no A/C in Texas you sweat!!!:poke:
and it don't rain for months at a time so how's a fella going to wash!!!!:dontknow:
Donny

:smileyb::smileyb::texas:

We're stinking cause with no A/C in Texas you sweat!!!:poke:
and it don't rain for months at a time so how's a fella going to wash!!!!:dontknow:
Donny

Never saw a horse with A/C never saw a buggy or wagon, model T model A with A/C to be honest up ubtil the 80's most cars were purchased without A/C that now everybody just has to have or they will just die!
When did people become so soft???:dontknow:

Dupont wasn't worried about R12 until the patent was going to run out, then started pushing R134.I don't know if it is true but I was told the problem with R134 is that it is heavier than air so it stays down here at our level where we breath when released to the atmosphere.

Dupont wasn't worried about R12 until the patent was going to run out, then started pushing R134.

Not true, but the conspiracy theory persists.
The patents on "CFC refrigerants" ran out looong before anyone was thinking about R134a, during the 1950s. There was actually no DuPont patent on R-12 by itself, just a trademark on the name Freon.
http://www.imcool.com/articles/aircondition/refrigerant_history.php