If you stockpiled automobile Freon two years ago, you made a good investment.
If you must buy R-12 Freon this summer, you might need to call a banker.The price is high and getting higher.
If your car's air conditioner needs repair, you have some expensive options.
Here's the dilemma: Stay with R-12 or switch to R-134a.
R-12 is used in most older cars. It damages the ozone. It's expensive. And in a few years it may be impossible to find.
R-134a is cheaper. It was used in new cars beginning in 1993. Older cars can be converted to use it, but that's also expensive and possibly unnecessary.
Don't let the Freon shortage set you up to get ripped off.
"Customers who call me with a working system, I tell them, `Don't change until you need to,' " said Paul Powell, owner of Stringer Auto Air & Radiator Service in Biloxi.
Converting an older car to use R-134a refrigerant can cost several hundred dollars - an investment that might not pay off in a car older than 10 years or one that has 80,000 to 100,000 miles.
The investment could pay off if the car is less than 10 years old and in good condition.
"When they get rid of the car, it will help the value," Stringer said. "If it's got the old system, it's going to be an automatic deduction on the selling price."
When deciding how to repair your air-conditioning system, a good start is getting advice from a mechanic you trust.
If you know nothing about your car's air conditioner, you are easy prey for a dishonest mechanic.
"We run into that all the time," said Joe Plummer, owner of A-1 Radiator Specialist in Gulfport, Miss.
Plummer has solved his Freon shortage problem temporarily.
"We have it," he said. "I stockpiled it."
Plummer sells Freon for $15 to $20 a pound. Current market prices would oblige him to charge about twice that if he bought Freon today.
"We've stayed with our normal pricing on repairs," he said. "People are gouging for Freon."
Plummer said his mechanics are learning how to convert systems to use the new environmentally friendly R-134a.
He recommends checking for a license and references when having work done by a mechanic you don't know. Getting a second opinion might be wise, but it could be expensive. Plummer said he charges a minimum of $45 to diagnose the problems of an air-conditioning system.
Converting an older car to use R-134a Freon might be a good investment if your car is working properly and you expect it to last several years.
"The average cost is around $300, if you do it properly," said Gene Caylor of AG&W Auto Air Conditioning in Long Beach, Miss. The price doesn't include other repairs.
Adding R-12 to a leaking system will waste money and increase the amount of ozone-damaging chemicals in the air. Venting Freon to the atmosphere is illegal.
The new refrigerant costs half as much as the old Freon, and the price of R-134a should remain stable or fall lower because production will continue.
The downside of converting to R-134a Freon is a decrease in cooling power.
"Your cooling capacity will decrease 12 to 15 percent," Caylor said. This loss of cooling power will be most noticeable in slow-moving traffic, when heat builds up in the system.
Caylor, who has worked with refrigeration equipment since 1954, said the conversion process works fine.
"The only thing I've had any problems with is that you're operating at a little higher pressure, so if you have any weak hoses, you might have to replace some," he said. "I've converted several and had to replace hoses on one."