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Showing content with the highest reputation on 09/19/2019 in all areas

  1. My Reatta was changed over to R134a in Holland where it first lived after GM imported five Reattas into Europe in 1990. In England and presumably the EU as well, R12 was banned years ago and now all new cars must have R1234yF, which is expensive and has such small atom sizes that it is more prone to leaking away. I stated "and presumably the EU as well" because whereas every little thing is supposed to be standardised the reality is that each country does its' own thing (especially France!). So, when I brought my Reatta to England (an adventure in itself which I won't tell you about unless you request details of the saga) even though it had passed the compulsory Netherlands TUV safety test, I wasn't allowed to drive it over here until I had changed the lighting so that the rear indicators were separated from the brake lights and showed amber and not red. There also has to be an amber side repeater flashing in unison with the others and visible from the side/rear at an angle of 30 degrees. I was so thankful that there isn't a CANBUS system, in fact I wouldn't have bought it if it had. I did have my heart set on a Reatta after seeing one in a magazine while visiting my daughter when she was working in America. In addition, the seat belts must lock when given a sharp tug and the seat backs must lock when stationary, not as on the Reatta when these functions are triggered by deceleration. It then had to pass the annual government safety check for all vehicles over three years old and I then had to prove exactly when it was manufactured (the printed label "manu 11/89" wasn't deemed good enough) and provide stacks of completed forms, import documentation, Dutch TUV certificate, UK safety certificate, insurance documents and photographs and, of course, Money! This application was rejected three times before it was finally given official approval. In all, it took eight months from when I got the car home. If you have read all this you, most likely, have lost the will to live but getting back to your question about CFCs, In England you have to have a qualification to work on aircon sytems and you are not supposed, by law, to top them up yourself. Having said that it is possible to buy cans of "top up gas" over the internet! I think they get around it by stating that the gas is not R134a but only "compatible". Here in Europe we are all supposed to be doing everything to reduce the likelyhood of global warming, reducing consumption of plastics in packaging, promoting the sales of hybrid/electric vehicles and cutting down energy use at home with better insulation, LED lighting etc and out and about by switching off road lighting that had been installed at great expense for "safety reasons" but now is considered too expensive to run. In my loft I have eight inches of rockwool insulation, double the recommended thickness for when my house was built in 1988. The latest spec for new homes is twelve inches, which is way below my Swedish friends house in Gothenberg.....one meter or thirty nine inches! If you sell your house over here you have to provide an energy rating certificate. This gives an idea of how much it would cost a new owner to run the property for heating it. It also gives an estimated costing of possible improvements eg: under floor insulation, more efficient boiler, double/triple glazing, LED lighting and the savings that could made over three years. I seems to me that none of these recommendations are cost effective. For example it might state that the underfloor insulation could cost £4000-£7500, saving over three years £350-£425. Pointless! If you have got this far then you have just wasted a chunk of your life that you will never get back! Regards, Paul.
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