Illegalizing AC – Again

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Remember when they banned the sale of those small cans of Freon – the refrigerant that used to be used in automotive air conditioning systems? You used to be able to buy these at any auto parts store and do-it-yourself recharge your car’s AC system.

Not anymore.

They said it was necessary to ban those cans because Freon leaking into the air was bad for the environment; specifically, that it was carving a hole in the ozone layer. So only “certified” AC technicians could buy Freon – and afford the commercial-grade equipment necessary to service cars with Freon-based AC systems. 

The financial burden  of paying these technicians fell upon the owners of cars that had Freon-based AC systems, which they could no longer recharge on their own for about $5 – which was the cost of a small can of Freon refrigerant, when it was still legal for anyone to buy it at any auto parts store.

Then along came the new refrigerant – R134a. It has been the dominant car AC refrigerant since the 1990s-era “phase out” of Freon. It wasn’t a danger to the environment – or so one would assume, since people were once again allowed to buy small cans of it and (once again) recharge their car’s AC system for about $5 rather than pay several hundred dollars to an AC technician, as people who still own older cars with Freon-based AC systems are obliged to do (It’s either that or have their original AC system modified to accept the new refrigerant – and that costs more than $5, too.)

Well, here we go again. 

The new refrigerant – R-134a – which they told us was an “environmentally friendly” alternative to ozone-depleting Freon (which was also about to become open source before it was banned, as the patent on it was about to expire) is being given the same treatment.

Or rather, we are being given the same treatment.    

Several states – guess which ones – are in the process of “phasing out”  R134a .They mean, forcing it out. At least one has passed laws forbidding the sale of small cans of R134a at auto parts stores, as was done with small cans of Freon. Once again, only “certified” technicians are allowed to buy the refrigerant, which of course becomes much more expensive on account of the fact that it’s no longer a mass-market/retail item but a kind of proprietary item that only a relative handful of people – those “certified” people – can buy and which these “certified” people will charge many times $5 per can to instill in your car’s AC system.

That latter isn’t ugsome, in itself. People who perform work have every right to be paid for doing it. Provided the work is sought out by the person who pays to have it done. Who wants to pay to have it done. Who agrees to pay what it costs to have it done. But that is not what this is.

It is the opposite of that.

The government decrees you must pay to have it done, if you want it done. Forbids the doing of it yourself. Criminalizes and punishes those who try – as in the state of Washington, where one of these new de facto bans recently went into effect:

“Any person who negligently releases into the ambient air any 6 substance listed by the department of ecology as a hazardous air pollutant, other than in compliance with the terms of an applicable permit or emission limit, and who at the time negligently places  another person in imminent danger of death or substantial bodily harm is guilty of a gross misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not more than ten thousand dollars, or by imprisonment for up to three hundred sixty-four days, or both.” 

And that’s not all.

“Any person who violates any of the provisions of this chapter, chapter  . . . or any of the rules in force under such chapters or section may incur a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed ten thousand dollars per  day for each violation. Each such violation shall be a separate and  distinct offense, and in case of a continuing violation, each day’s  continuance shall be a separate and distinct violation.”

For selling a can of car AC refrigerant to a person not “certified.” Or using it, if during the process of instilling it in your car’s AC system, any amount of this “hazardous air pollutant” should be released into the air.

Read all about it, here.

People get in less trouble for sticking up a 7-11.  Unless, of course, they weren’t wearing a “mask” when they did it.

New refrigerants must now be used – and not just in car AC systems. Home AC systems and all other uses of refrigerants must find replacements with what is styled a “low Global Warming Potential.”

Note the “potential” part.

This GWP business is interesting because – like “masks” – it rests on assertions without scientific backing, if by “science” once means things established as fact or close enough to be persuasive in the absence of contrary facts.

Just as it was asserted that “masks” must be worn in order to prevent people from getting or giving a sickness – absent any factual basis to support this assertion and in defiance of an accumulating mountain of contrary facts – so also the assertion that refrigerants like Freon and now R134a (and, inevitably, the next temporarily allowed refrigerant) must be rationed, taxed and ultimately banned outright in the name of assertions about their causing “global warming.”

Which, by the way, is now styled “climate change” by most of the asserters, because the facts no longer supported their assertions about the globe warming. Which came into vogue after the facts no longer supported “global cooling.”

“Climate change” conveniently solves that problem by encompassing any “change” in the “climate” – and never mind whether the “change” is part of the natural cycle of things and not, as asserted, a “catastrophe” caused by “human action.”

The catastrophe is that assertions now trump facts – and cause massive economic damage in the name of salving asserted damage. To ease people’s fears of the bogeyman – their fears conjured and metastasized by the very people who stand to profit by them.

Politicians, such as Jay Inslee of Washington.

Not coincidentally, Inslee was a major Face Diaper pusher, too.

Fifty years ago, AC was a luxury – something most people had to live without. Not because they didn’t want it; but because they couldn’t afford it. Then, courtesy of the free market, most anyone could. Now, thanks to the antithesis of the free market, it is likely to become just like it was.

Expensive – and rare.

Now, if the assertions made about “global warming” (“climate change” can’t be pinned down and for that reason the term ought to be dismissed as what it is, which is unscientific) were backed by facts, then it would be hard to argue against necessary measures. But we are being enserfed on the basis of assertions – and that is fundamentally no different than sentencing a man to a long prison term because someone asserted he committed  a crime.

The legal system still requires proof – sufficient to back the assertion as likely fact – before sentence is levied.

Why shouldn’t the regulatory apparat be held to exactly the same standard?

Regulations can be just as punishing as any sentence of the court; indeed, they are more so because they punish many people rather than just one who stands accused, as in a court.

By not insisting on proof – of harm, especially – we have empowered an apparat that might as well be a lynch mob, just as vicious – and just as certain of its own purblind righteousness.

. . .

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73 COMMENTS

  1. I bought 5 kegs and various AC supplies from the estate of a buddy’s uncle. Gave $400 for 2 kegs of R-12, a keg of R-22, a keg of R-134. I figure that was not at all a bad investment. I suggest watching auctions and estate sales.

  2. Reminds me of Kunstler’s article yesterday about his home solar panel system. They won’t allow the technicians to install the older lead-acid batteries so, unless he does it himself, he’s looking at $18K (on top of the $38K original cost) to fix it.

    While he did say that he would do it himself (and use the lower cost batteries), how long until “DIY battery replacement” on a solar panel system is outlawed?

    And then, why stop there? How long until all EV batteries get mandated into the next bullshit thing? Wouldn’t that be a super-great way to pull the carpet out from every sucker that ran out and bought one?

    Oh but, “the government would never do that!” 🙄👌

    • Just bear in mind while this will probably work; propane is explosive and flammable. A fire will be a bad thing if you are in the car when this happens. Stock up while you can still get the real stuff and don’t forget to pressure test and then evacuate the system when your repairs are complete before refilling the system.

      • Landru

        “Climate safe” 1234YF is also flammable. Most likely your refrigerator or home AC is running flammable isobutane or propane refrigerant as well. I’d be much more worried about the hot oils and liquid fuel setting the car ablaze than a slow leak of the same gas that comes out of the stove in my kitchen. Eric and the other commenters are right, this isn’t about the environment or safety, it’s about money and control. Theres more than one way to skin a cat. We have to make every workaround known or we’ll be regulated back to the dark ages under guidance of the climate clergy.

        • Reply to Climate Outlaw:
          Things have really changed from the past. Luckily my refrigeration systems date back to the early 2000’s. And yes these days work arounds is what we have and I do them also. It’s just surprising that we have gone back to flammable refrigerants. That was the good thing about R12 non flammable and potentially non toxic unless burned.

          • Propane is actually a drop in replacement for r12, no modifications necessary. Used to be used on commercial ac equipment up until the 50’s. Just my opinion here, but probably not really as dangerous as you might think. I worked on lots of them when I was a young whippersnapper refrigeration mechanic back in the 70’s. Never had a problem. As far as cars, first, most cars only have a 2 or 3 pound refrigerant charge, not really enough to cause significant damage. Second, even if you do have a minor leak, (and yes automotive compressors all leak to some minor degree because of the shaft seal), I doubt that there would be enough accumulated gas to cause a problem. Again, just my opinion, but if I had a classic car that needed r12 and I couldn’t get any, wouldn’t hesitate to put propane in it. Cheap, easily available, does the job, and safety concerns are really pretty negligible.

  3. ‘People who perform work have every right to be paid for doing it. Provided the work is sought out by the person who pays to have it done.’ — eric

    Paid … and paid handsomely.

    A tidbit from this morning’s disastrous +9.1% y-o-y CPI report: the motor vehicle maintenance and repair index increased 2.0 percent in June, its largest increase since September 1974. That would compound to a 26.8% annual rate.

    By the way, just like last month, stocks mysteriously weakened all afternoon yesterday, before this morning’s report. Entities such as the White House and the Federal Reserve receive advance notice of the CPI figure.

    Some entitled insider(s) within the US fedgov are making tons of money front-running the public — they profit from slam-dunk advance-knowledge short sales, as working people are stripped of their purchasing power.

    Don’t expect raccoon-eyed little ‘attorney general’ Merrick Garland [not his real name] to do anything about this colossal fraud. After all, ‘president’ FJB has been on the take for half a century now.

    • CPI should be CDI for Currency Devaluation Index.

      The CDI is presently running 8-10% per annum using today’s BS index. 18-22% using the pre nineties index which as ‘closer’ to being accurate. Nixon actually tried price controls when inflation exceeded 4%. The Greatest generation, Silent generation and Boomers were terrified of inflation. Today,,, it’s no big deal.
      In fact at the gas station filling up at almost $5 per gallon everyone blamed it mostly on Russia,,, how we should just nuke them and get it over with,,, how we needed a good war to fix the economy,,, and I am in the conservative part of Florida. No one complained about the price of gasoline and food. They just pumped it with that dullard look on their faces. Some were still wearing masks (lol). It’s stunning and sad at the same time. We are sooo,,, sooo programmed. Don’t be waiting for these NPC’s to save the day! Ain’t gonna happen!

      • ‘They just pumped it with that dullard look on their faces.’ — ken

        Incredibly, ‘Biden’ now has drained the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to the lowest level since 1985.

        After the election, this oil will have to bought back, probably at higher prices than it was sold.

        Don’t count on RINO/Romney Republiclowns to impeach ‘Biden’ for selling out America: that’s a bipartisan project, you know.

  4. I was going to work about a month ago, I saw what looked like a 7-up bottle in the gutter on a street near my home. As I drove by, I noticed the handles on the top and instantly knew this was a freon bottle. I whipped around and came back, and it was a nearly full bottle of R407A. Obviously some HVAC tech did not secure this well in his truck. My win.

    I took the refrigerant course years ago and have a cert. I may need to get a 30lb bottle of R134A before it’s regulated to hell.

  5. Jay Inslee is owned by Costco. Bought and paid for to push through liquor deregulation in WA State 12 years ago. The warehouse store’s lawyers literally wrote the new rules for selling adult beverages in the state.

    Follow the money trail. With Inslee, Costco is always involved.

  6. The pitiful part being that cars have long been built NOT to cool by air circulation. No floor vents, no vent windows. It’s AC or unbearably hot. My former wife got a new Toyota pickup in the late ’70s, with no AC, and no floor vents or vent windows. It was nearly unbearable in ordinary summer heat, and downright dangerous in the 95-100 degree range. The first truck I owned with AC was a 1989 Dodge Dakota. It had floor vents, but I don’t recall if it had vent windows. It was tolerable without the AC running. Use to piss off my coworkers because I wouldn’t run the AC until I was on the way home. When working in high heat, cooling down to comfortable is not a good thing. Makes it very hard to go back out into it.

  7. Let me guess, DuPont owns the R-134a patent too, just as they did Freon, which was outlawed when DuPont’s patent ran out. So while the Psychopaths In Charge pretend to panic over refrigerants, they let DuPont, Bayer/Monsanto, etc. run roughshod over the planet with their barely regulated at all chemicals. They single out R-134a, because it’s privately used, by people, not industrial agriculture or mass producing consumer goods. This is close to the edge of proving that the whole “climate change” thing is running cover for chemical pollution.

    • John, you remind me of an article on Lew Rockwell.com about adding TSP to laundry detergent to restore it to the cleaning properties it once had. The EPA forced soap makers to remove phosphates from laundry detergent in a misguided war on algae blooms. They didn’t go after the mass overuse of the chemicals in farming, where the real problem was because that would require stepping on the toes of the Department of Agriculture, which encouraged use of phosphate based fertilizer.

  8. I’ve slowly collected a few cans of R134a. I should have bought more. In the last couple years the price has DOUBLED. What was $7-9 is now $14.

    • correction, I was looking at the stuff with leak stop, the cheapest around me is still under $12 but still a good price increase.

      • Where I shop R134a was $5 a can last year, now it’s $10.
        PS. Don’t use stop leak in your a/c system!
        I’ve seen it destroy compressors and clog condensers.
        It’s also been known to contaminate recovery equipment.

      • Brent: Talking to mechanics I know, they tell me that the leak stop can clog the orifices and passages in the evaporator and condenser. Best cheap way is to pressurize the system with nitrogen to low pressure and soap everything and look for bubbles; that’s where your leak will be or refill the system with refrigerant and dye. Your UV light will help you spot it. Let’s hope the leak isn’t in the evaporator under the dash…….

        • re: Landru July 13, 2022 At 10:52 am

          I know the stop leak can cause problems. I avoid it now. It worked fine on the car I used it on but that’s because it never got air into the system. What I think happens is that the system gets air into it then the stop leak solidifies in various places like the orifice.

          I did the UV dye thing once on another car. Still have to fix the AC in that one. Once I got the dye in the system it became apparent the leak was I think the high side valve. I bought a new one but never got around to putting it in.

  9. Thanks for the heads-up Eric, tomorrow I’m going to hit a couple different auto supply stores and stock up on cans of R134 while I can still get it. Have a half can from last year when the Schrader valve was leaking, was able to get a repair kit for the valve, probably should get a couple more of those too in case they get banned to stop do-it-yourselfers.
    On a related note my central air leaked out all the R22 a couple years ago and I ended up having to get a whole new unit because R22 was now verboten. Been trying to get a tank of the R410a it needs just to have it but so far it’s been unobtainium.

    • re: Mike+in+Boston July 13, 2022 At 12:06 am

      The new environmentalism is to make people continually buy new stuff.
      Throw it away. Buy new. It’s for the environment.
      They’ll probably force people to tear down their old homes to have new ones if they can figure out how to do it. For the environment. New office buildings. For the environment.
      Consume consume consume for the environment.

      Sounds like a self serving crony racket to me.

    • Hi Mike,

      You bet!

      I think Brent makes a good point about this cyclical replacing of serviceable things with new things – “because the environment.” It makes them money and it empowers them. I wish I’d bought Freon R-12 while it was still $5 per can…

  10. The new refrigerant for automobiles A/Cs made after 2020 is called 1234yf. It is a mildly flammable refrigerant that sells for $100lb. Do you have to be certified? Yes, to work on your car’s AC system, but your refrigerator or freezer…nah.

    There are two new refrigerants that are on the market today:

    1. 600a aka isobutane (highly flammable) found in all new residential refrigerators and freezers.

    https://refrigeranthq.com/r-600a-isobutane-refrigerant-fact-info-sheet/

    2. 290a aka propane (yep, propane…the flammable stuff.)
    This is to be used in commercial refrigeration equipment and HVAC units. Do you have to be certified? Nope. So when that, just out of trade school, 22 year old shows up to work on your
    unit and your exterior siding has a big hole in the side of it, you will know what caused it.

    https://refrigeranthq.com/r-290-propane-refrigerant-info-fact-sheet/

    Do we receive a warning that we have now have propane and isobutane running on the inside of our homes? The EPA has been so kind to put a nice little white sticker on the back side of the unit (where most people don’t look) to warn us this is highly flammable. Due to it being pressurized it is odorless so one does not even get a head’s up before their kitchen door blows off. I am sure placing it right next to the stove should be fine.

    Just a theory…have we considered that maybe all of the explosions taking place in these food factories may not be intentional terrorism, but what happens when you place a highly flammable gas indoors? Oh, the brilliant minds at the EPA. Apparently, the average IQ in that department of government runs in the low 70s. That sad thing someone out there actually thought this was a good idea. I guess it is if one wishes to kill their consumer.

    • Propane (regular plain old propane) is the most efficient gas to fill an A/C system with. Because of it’s flammability I have been reluctant to use it.

      “Apparently, the average IQ in that department of government runs in the low 70s.”

      Dysgenic Fertility is America’s Greatest Strength!

      • Hi Adam,

        No doubt propane is very efficient and affordable. When it is 35 degrees outside propane will outrun any electric heat pump. My concern is salesmen are not aware of what they are selling and consumers are not aware of what they are buying.

        Very few people out there realize that R290 is the new fancy number for propane. As prices continue to rise and service techs are harder to come by (if you can find a good one) consumers will cut costs and think a YT video is going to make them knowledgeable. All of a sudden Harry Homeowner starts soldering refrigeration lines around a leaking evaporator coil of propane not realizing what he is dealing with.

        I think that is what is happening in these food distribution centers that are catching fire. Propane has been used in large industrial equipment for decades, but it is a specialized trade to work on these. Now they are adding propane and isobutane to smaller self contained refrigerators and freezers. Since tradesmen are a dying breed many foreigners are stepping in as handymen. It could have very dangerous consequences if someone doesn’t know what they are doing.

        I come from a family of tradesmen. Their opinions are mixed when it comes to these updated refrigerants. My father’s attitude is “if it is broke, chuck it and buy a new one.” With a 410, 404, R22, or R12 system he would repair the item. The propane he doesn’t want to deal with. My husband’s view is “I have to learn to work on these since this is the future.” If my husband makes a mistake I could be a widow. I can understand both sides.

    • Was coming in here to post the exact same thing. Gooberment fatwas mandating that safe, and efficient refrigerating agents be banned out of existence and replaced with flammable and less efficient (those of us old enough to have experienced the cooling effect of an AC system with R12 refrigerant know what I’m talking about. When functioning properly you could hang meat in there) types like ios-butane and propane are typical of our oppressors.

      Wait until they ban them and we’re back to the very first refrigerants, which were deadly poisons: liquid ammonia, methyl chloride and sulfur dioxide.

      Modern food refrigeration is a vital cornerstone of modern society, remove that and millions will die of starvation and tainted foods.

      Which is, of course, what our oppressors want to have happen to us.

      Whoever doesn’t get culled out by the lack food and lack of energy, will be dispatched with another man made, enhanced plague germ.

    • Hi RG,

      We recently purchased a new freezer for our house and a small fridge for our barn. Both had big nasty labels throughout the packaging and on the unit stating Fire, fire, fire. When I pointed it out to my wife she was like ‘same as it ever was.’ Not.

      Had to set the freezer out on the porch instead of in the garage, and put the small fridge up on a stand away from where I wanted it, so it wasn’t next to a flammable wall. Seems like just more cheap Chinese crap, to break or do damage. What a smart set of adversaries we are up against.

      • ‘We recently purchased a new freezer for our house and a small fridge for our barn. Both had big nasty labels throughout the packaging and on the unit stating Fire, fire, fire.’ — Norman Franklin

        Our neighboring small town had a brownout last week, caused by Arizona Public Service. Quite a few fridges and microwaves burned out.

        But one fridge caught fire and burned down a house.

        I was scratching my head … how the hell does a fridge burn down a house? Used to be the compressor would just overheat and seize up. But now we’ve got killer fridges?

        Who would have thought that besides clinging to vintage vehicles, now we have to cling to vintage appliances as well.

        • Hi Jim,

          It’s sound policy to “cling” to older appliances – and not only on account of the fire risk of the new ones, with flammable refrigerant. The new stuff is generally junk that will fail years before the older stuff would. People over 40 today can remember when the appliances they grew up with in their parents’ home were still working, 40 years later… now, they fail before ten years go by.

        • Well Jim it was only one house.

          We have a 20 year old freezer in the garage. This new one was to hold all the fish we caught in Alaska. Hope being out on the patio if it catches fire nothing else does

        • Jim H: A refrigerator fire caused the fires at Grenfell towers in UK which resulted in over 60 deaths. No mention of where the frig came from. The Grenfell towers were built the same way as the WTC complex, burned for 4 days, and did not collapse.

    • There’s an element of gaslighting with all of this. I mean, really, even back in the day, Pookie and Marion Barry aside, who did you ever see smokin’ crack on video? Now we see Hunter B. doing such every other day? They want us to see it. Rub our faces in it. Burisma. Keeeeeev. Perpetual scamdemic emergency law. F them.

      • Nice username Warning!

        Gaslighting, yes, but also gleeful mockery, demoralization, and humiliation of the masses who have even a semblance of awareness. They are saying, “We can reveal the degeneracy of our puppets in broad daylight in the public square…and there’s nothing you can do about it—our puppets will continue to rule you with impunity. As you say, “Rubbing our faces in it” is precisely right. If They trigger somebody to lash out violently….well that’s just the icing on the cake for Them.

          • Hi Warning.

            I have some limited sympathy for the MAGA types. Most are still laboring under the illusions/delusions of the Empires civic myths. Most have their hearts in the right place, but have not given the basics any real thought. I have no sympathy for the Progs. Their entire ideology is toxic. It is from them and their Neocon allies that most of the real threats to all of us arise.

            • Maga = Orange Fail. If folks don’t get what that means by now, they’re dumb or controlled oppo. Brandon is now extending OF’s “pandemic” emergency 30 months in. Time to release even your limited sympathy for anyone still under the spell of that satanic puppet.

                • Hi Eric.

                  So, you’d rather have El Presidente Biden? 🙂 At least the bad old Orange Man loves the country, and wasn’t out right trying to destroy it. Not to mention the added benefits of his “mean tweets” and the Progs heads exploding. Realistically, it was going to be one or the other. I’d say that we’d have been better off with the Orange Man. Not only that, but I’ve no doubt that the democrats would have impeached him several more times by now. 🙂

                  But it may turn out for the best. Now the democrats and El Presidente get blamed for everything, and then the MAGA train runs them over. Then we get to watch as the MAGA
                  crews investigations start. Talk about a series of popcorn moments. After that the long awaited return of the Ultra MAGA King! Right in middle of the Great Die Off. What could go wrong?…

      • Hi Warning,

        I think part of this is demoralization and the fatigue that accompanies it. People are no longer shocked because the outrageous has been normalized. In 1975 – in 1985 – this Hunter Biden business would have made Watergate seem like a malaprop at a press conference. But the populace has become habituated to degeneracy such that it now arouses hardly a murmur. It’s partially that people just don’t care; partially that people are exhausted.

        • Re: eric July 13, 2022 At 5:22 am

          I think fatigue is a very small part.
          The big problem is team politics. The typical Biden voter simply does not care. The democrats know their base does not care. Nobody is going to sit things out or vote republican or even third party because of Hunter Biden or his father’s associated acts, enabling, whathaveyou. It’s team first. The biggest fans will even double down to defend the Bidens and the party. It’s sportsball like.

          Fatigue is what people like us feel. This one thing after another endlessly.
          To quote Carlin: “Nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care”

        • Hi Eric.

          Good points. But you left one out. Most people simply don’t expect anything to be done about it. In other words, they have lost faith in the system itself.

          Not to mention that those behind our so called “leaders” have reached the point that they believe they are untouchable. But history demonstrates that hubris has its inherent problems.

          The oligarchs have reached the point that they don’t even pay lip service to the civic myths any more. But those myths (illusions/delusions) have allowed them govern for generations. Lacking them, they must rule. Which is something else again. Remember the lessons you learned from Lind’s writings. They will be very valuable in times to come.

  11. Yup. They bribe the politicians to grant them monopolies and to outlaw out-of-patent things in order to maintain a higher price than what the free market might allow. This kind of shit has been happening since before the British East India Tea Company. Sometimes they bribe the politicians so well that, in addition to obtaining a monopoly, they also get a law that mandates the purchase of their over-priced product, like car insurance.

    They’re a bunch of guild-creating, rent-seeking thieves! The companies that are behind this kind of legislation need to be investigated, identified and publicly called out. A couple of public records requests to the sponsors of these bills would probably uncover it.

    • I was just going to write about this same point.

      The patent for R12 had expired and many companies were supplying aftermarket R12 for peanuts.
      Under the guise of the ozone layer being depleted due to R12, R134a magically shows up to be the (newly patented) answer to all of our woes.
      Here we go again…
      Shampoo, rinse, repeat.

  12. So pretty much the elites are upset that the inferior (working) class has cheap access to air conditioning; something that should be allowed only to themselves. So I guess the next item for restricting if not an outright ban would be prime cuts of beef (too many cows causing “climate change” due to excessive flatulence. Translation, it’s time the unwashed masses know their place!

    • Hi Allen,

      In re: “So I guess the next item for restricting if not an outright ban would be prime cuts of beef (too many cows causing “climate change” due to excessive flatulence.”

      They are pretty open about this now – as they have been about banning cars, outright. But it’s not “covered” by the corporate press and so not “pravda” in the way that whatever the corporate press does “cover” – such as “vaccines” being “safe and effective,” for instance. Orwell noted and described this phenomenon – the way the masses receive “truth” from the media organs, that “truth” being as ephemeral as the next news cycle, to be changed tomorrow.

  13. They’re coming for your home a/c too, just a matter of time.

    Also, I’ve thought about the certification, but why? As Eric stated there is no actual science to back up this legislation. They can pound sand for all I care.

    Known hazards such as lead, mercury, PCBs, sure. Another fun fact here in central WA, acres of old apple orchards turned into housing developments complete with years of arsenic bug spray in the soil. Hey Dimslee, how about them kids?

    • And it’s not like the replacement is better refrigerant.

      The replacements generally don’t work as well as the banned materials.

      I want the good stuff.

      • “ The replacements generally don’t work as well ”

        Yep, had a rental car soon after the switch to 134A, southern CA took forever to cool down. I converted our ‘91 Silverado std. cab to 134A about 5 years ago works great but small cubic ft. to cool. Our 2018 Jeep has the newest friendly stuff, works but swings up down more and the auto temp isn’t great, hot day I switch to manual and crank it to keep up.

    • Ok but what is the legal basis for the EPA doing this?

      Does WV v. EPA affect?

      What I’m getting at is, maybe we can have R22 back, if we play our cards right, unless I’m missing something…

      • Hi Publius.

        Legal basis? I really hope you realize that the Deep State doesn’t care about the law. It also isn’t hindered by it. The law is what ever they say that it is. In terms of WV vs EPA on the surface that appears to be promising. But now watch the EPA and the others foot drag, slow walk and stall. After all, its about “saving” the entire world!…

        This entire Climate Change nonsense is a hoax. Its anti human and anti technology Greenie BS. Ecology is a science. Environmentalism is a religion. These people are Cultists. If not for their control of governments (Gangs) and the mass/social media, no one would take them seriously.

  14. It all started with the banning of DDT. Yet another example of NOT following the science but following emotion. DDT is an easy to use, cheap and effective insecticide that prevented malaria. It’s still used in China and India. But it was blamed for a multitude of sins, some of which turned out to not be true or were vastly overblown. But no matter it’s evil…. It was banned in the US in 1972 and still inspires scorn from the greeny left and those that don’t know better.

    • Hi Dan.

      What are you? Some type of “extremist” Anarchist?… 🙂 We can’t have that! Next thing you know, people will notice that governments are simply gangs of thieves and murderers writ large…

  15. It’s not that hard to get EPA certified. There are no requirements for experience or anything to prove that you are a competent HVAC/refrigeration tech. Just study the online materials (which, at least when I took it, had nothing to do with refrigeration. Was all about particulates and ozone and parts per million enviro nonsense). And your done. Certification is good for life and you can buy and install whatever you want.

  16. Gotta go stock up! Ha! I did this when the R12 was going bye-bye. Had about 6 cans or so. But I left them in my car, it got too hot, and then they all blew! Rats. Luckily, I worked at a lab with access to A/C guys and their big green canisters. Looks like I’ll be buying a case of R134, then. Bastards.

    • For sure. The aftermarket parts industry appears to be in on it. The Car Wizard, an auto mechanic on Youtube, discussed the troubles he is having with an engine rebuild on a 1979 Chevy Nova with the 305 engine. Apparently, the aftermarket “lifters” and cams didn’t work too well togethre. The bad lifters wore out the cams and vise versa. All because of crappy chinese material in them. The Car Wizard ended up buying New Old Stock NOS of the lifters and camshaft to get the thing running. It’s crap

      • Car wizard will make a video in the future saying that the solution for the supply problems is to just get an EV, because you don’t need lifters and cams on an EV. They’re so low maintenance and so fucking great.

    • I’ve noticed that they’ve been using way too much salt on the roads for the past several winters. Salt isn’t free, so I’ve surmised that they’re trying to rust as many cars off the road as possible.

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