piecing together your own a/c service machine

[Joe]

so I’ve been doing a lot of a/c work the past few months of the summer and I’ve decided to put together my own real a/c service machine.

I already had a set of gauges, a digital scale, and a good vacuum pump. I’m buying a recovery tank and an in-line oil injector. I’m going to set it all up together on an old service cart I have sitting around.

My question is how to hook up the recovery tank with the vacuum pump. This is the vacuum pump I’m using:
http://www.harborfreight.com/25-cfm-vacuum-pump-61245.html

will I be able to simply run the recovery tank to the “T” fitting attached to the pump while I have the guage set hooked to it? I don’t feel like the pump will actually pump the old freon into the recovery tank this way.

does anyone have any experience setting something like this up?

Topic

[James O’Hara]

You should be able to do it with another set of manifold gauges you may need to buy adapters to hook the lines up though. This will also let you know how much pressure you have in the tank and how much outlet pressure the vacuum pump is putting out. Whether the outlet will allow you to hook it to a tank I dunno. The other thing is AC machines have filters in them and you are going to want to put some in. It will help prevent your stuff from getting full of metal shavings from a bad compressor on the vehicle. You are also going to want to keep a backup set of seals because if someone used something like A/C Pro it can clog up your manifold gauges etc.

You are also missing an Identifier. This is also important because someone may have put something else in the system. You never know with people they could have had an old can of R-12 sitting on a shelf, etc. Also some people run propane though it is highly illegal in the US.

Basically when it comes right down to it a Robin Air A/C machine is the best bet if you ask me. I am all for you setting one up on your own but, it is not as simple as it sounds.

[James O’Hara]

You may want to look at this to give you an idea. Just remember it is a patent. Refrigerant recovery, purification and recharging system

[John B Kobberstad]

A vacuum pump is designed to remove air from an AC system. There is no pressure in the system when it is used and it uses a special oil in it. You can’t use it on a pressurized AC system to remove refrigerant with pressure. It’s not designed to handle the pressure. I think it would also be illegal. AC equipment must be specifically certified and approved to be used for refrigerant removal.

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