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Old July 21st 05, 05:51 PM
Daniel J. Stern
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On Thu, 21 Jul 2005, Bruce Chang wrote:

> I'm pretty sure you already know this but you're using R134a and Freon
> synonymously in your posts. It should be noted that Freon refers to
> R12.


That is not correct. "Freon" refers to refrigerants manufactured by
Dupont. The number after the word "Freon" indicates which refrigerant it
is. Freon-11 is CFC-11. Freon-12 is CFC-12. Freon-22 is HCFC-22.
Freon-134a is HFC-134a. Freon-502 is CFC-502. So on and so forth.

Likewise, other manufacturers have their own refrigerant names.
Allied-Signal calls theirs "Genetron" (Genetron-11, Genetron-12,
Genetron-22, Genetron-134a, Genetron-502, etc.

Elf Atochem calls theirs "Forane". Forane-11, Forane-12, Forane-22, etc.

ICI America calls theirs "Klea". Klea-12, Klea-134a, etc.

It's just that "Freon" has entered the American vocabulary as a generic
referent that is actually a brand name, just like "Scotch tape" (belongs
to 3M), "Kleenex" (belongs to Kimberly-Clark), "Post-It" (3M again), and
in some areas, people call any brand of color crayon a "Crayola" (belongs
to Binney & Smith).


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