Past A/C

     It was back in 1939 that the Packard Motor Car people introduced the novel idea of air condition their car. The cost of the unit was just under $300 dollars (that’s about $5000 in today’s dollars). The units were large and bulky; in fact they took up most of the space available in the truck of the car. It wasn’t until GM introduced A/C in the 1954 Pontiac V8 that air condition started to catch on.
     Early air conditioners were using toxic chemicals as refrigerants. Dupont introduced “Freon” in 1928, making air condition systems safer. Unfortunately, chlorine based refrigerants were later found to be harmful to the atmosphere. The chlorine atoms in the refrigerant were found to cause ozone depletion in the stratosphere. This depletion had serious biological consequences including increases in skin cancers and a reduction in ocean plankton.
     The 90’s saw the last production of automotive R12 (Freon) Currently there are refrigerants available that are non ozone depleting on the market. These hydrocarbon gases are sold under the brand “Duracool”. Duracool.ca for more info…