can you charge the AC in an international just like you would any other car?

Licensed techs always purge the air from lines, before filling a system. It’s legal to do.As far as needing a vacuum, there’s probably no moisture in a system that has simply seeped out a bit of its refrigerant.Same way a tire being deflated can’t suck in moisture. The need for a vacuum pump would be to boil the moisture out of an empty system, and to check it for leaks. By making sure it holds a 28-30 lb vacuum for 30 minutes. If He wants to “ do it right”, he needs someone with a recovery system to first evacuate the system, then vacuum the system, then fill the system.All this OP needs to do is slap a can in, like he did on his Honda, Lol.1 can won’t hurt a thing, if it starts cycling rapidly, too much 134a and too much pressure. Maybe has another problem.

 

Hey thanks, You reminded Me, I replaced my condensor about 6 weeks ago, while on the road. Filled it up, been working great since. I keep forgetting to vacuum it down and replace air drier, while at home. Don’t need any rust in my system. Almost hate to mess with, it’s working so good. Lol

 

Any time the system is opened, and a leak is an open system. You need to have the system evacuated. Replacing or adding a drier is also a very good idea.
Some shops will not warranty a repair if that’s not done.

 

I have two caps on the side near the compressor one black one blue. A can of freesant goes into one of the two inputs. The gauge tells me when it's full up. However its meaningless without a vacumn machine to evacuate any moisture and bubbles in the system. That is where I pay the professional in the garage to do it. My tahoe actually probably needs a all up replacement which is about two thousand dollars. Not really worth it. As long the cans buy me a little bit of cooling in the worst of summer months. But it's performance degrades by the year and gets dirty inside the system. Eventually it will have to either come out or be replaced. Im not there yet.

 

Those charts for cars. BAck in the day when 134 first came out. 1994ish.
Pressures are different in todays world. Specially with fans that only come on when high pressure is high enough. Todays cars no longer fan on with compressor. They now operate with high pressure sensor. They cycle on and off.

And don't work on semis due to the fact those have HUGE fans and pull A LOT OF AIR through the condensor.
You try to charge a semi to those pressures you'll end up with a cycling compressor because it's way overcharged.

 

The trucks I run will cycle till full charge is reached then stays on. Fan comes on when high pressure is reached and shuts off when pressure is dropped. Usually at idle or slow speeds. But as long as the compressor is fully and properly charged. Clutch stays engaged.

 

No they don't purge the air. And it's not legal to do so. I"m licensed and not once done it in 30 years.
24 inches vacuum at my altitude is max. Sea level might get close to 28.

The bottom half or your statement is the correct and legal way to do it now. TOP OFFS ARE NO LONGER ALLOWED. It's in the 609c manual.

Recover Freon
Create Vacuum and test
Charge 15% and test evaporator
Finish charging

https://www.macsw.org/WEB/images/Macs_Docs/Certification/MACS_2018_609_Cert_Manual.pdf

 

Freon is a trademark name of a specific set of refrigerants.
The trademark is owned by The Chemours Company.
The manufacturer of several products in the “R” class.

 

134A is 134A. its all the same. you dont need a $120 hour dealer shop. to fix your ac system. any car ac shop has the tools to fix it tool.

 

Who said anything about a shop and tools?

You missed the point.

And I wouldn't trust a car shop to fix a semi.

134 today doesn't run the same pressure as it did 25 years ago. And cars today, aren't designed the same as 25 years ago.

Semis hold twice to 4 times more then cars. Depending on day or sleeper truck. And the huge fan brings the high pressure down much lower then cars.