[Drake]

Originally Posted by Drake

it just lacks power compared to 134a, even in made-for-duster guns (like WA) so performance generally sucks.

Originally Posted by szetor

"It's been discussed over an over again. di- duster gas is harder on the seals, and also from what I've seen doesn't provide as much pressure. Stick with the tetra-, it's not that hard to find at all."

"I tought that it was a general consensus in the duster-gas-user's community that Difluorethane was significantly weaker than Tetrafluorethane, and that it also caused the rubber seals to give after a while and/or affect the hop-up sleeve in a negative way (2 problems I would rather not try to confirm... to save a little cash.)"

That's what I said, no?

As for being harder on the seals, could be, but I don't know of any actual cases where this has been actually demonstrated. The origin of the concern over difluoroethane revolves around speculation about formaldehyde, as briefly explained in one of the "original" articles about gas guns by DumboRat (an AirsoftZone regular, back in the day, later on Arnie's):

Originally Posted by http://www.arniesairsoft.co.uk/?filnavn=/articles/newbie_guide/faq/gas_primer_faq.htm

An oxidative by-product of difluoroethane, as I found out from another player and confirmed with a bit of digging, is formaldehyde. While formaldehyde is a Class I suspect carcinogen, it is probably formed in such small quantities that the use of it in our GBB's really would not constitute a serious concern. However, I would still recommend against specifically going to "sniff" the gas. Even so, formaldehyde gas, *I believe* (someone please correct me if I'm wrong, here) spontaneously decomposes to formic acid -- which may be somewhat harmful, in the long run, to the neoprene/rubber o-rings and seals. Again, though, it is probably formed in such small amounts as to make this a non-issue. It's more likely that your various seals will simply expire due to repeated use.

Also, propane is corrosive to high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polystyrene, and polyurethane, and slightly corrosive to acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). (source http://www.intox.org/databank/docume...pane/cie59.htm), but we still consider it safe enough to use in our guns.