Bludee AC900: three oil vessels, and why that is the specification to read

Look past the touch screen and the automation for a moment. The specification that tells you what this machine is for is duller and far more revealing: three separate oil vessels — PAG, POE and UV dye — each of 250 ml, plus a fourth 400 ml container for what comes out.

A machine with one oil bottle asks a technician to manage the difference between two lubricants by being careful. This one makes it structural. On a workshop that services electrified vehicles alongside conventional ones, that distinction is the entire argument.

PAG, POE, and the mistake you only make once

A conventional A/C compressor is driven by a belt and is electrically isolated from the system. A hybrid or electric compressor is driven by a motor sitting inside the refrigerant circuit, with its windings in contact with the lubricant. PAG oil is hygroscopic and conductive enough to be entirely wrong in that position; POE is what those compressors are specified with.

Put the wrong one in and the failure is not immediate, which is what makes it expensive — the car leaves, the fault develops later, and the diagnosis lands on somebody who was not there. Separate, dedicated vessels mean the machine cannot deliver the wrong lubricant because the wrong lubricant is not in that circuit. That is a process control, not a convenience.

The third vessel carries UV dye, kept out of both oil paths, so a system charged for leak detection is not carrying dye it was never meant to have.

A vacuum pump built for bigger work

The evacuation stage moves 32 Gal/min, twice the throughput of the standard machines in this line, and evacuation time is selectable up to 240 minutes with a separate leak-test window of up to 30 minutes. That combination is aimed at a specific reality: a long, deep vacuum is how moisture is actually removed from a system, and a shop that treats evacuation as a five-minute formality is a shop that will see the same car again.

Being able to set a long evacuation and a held leak test, then leave the machine to it, is what makes doing the job properly compatible with doing it commercially.

Flushing, and what it is really removing

The AC900 carries a flushing system intended to extract all compressor oil from the system. The reasoning is worth understanding: additives and contaminants — UV dye, leak stopper, cooling booster, moisture, metal and rubber particles — are mixed or dissolved into the oil rather than carried in the refrigerant. Recover the gas and every one of them is still in the car. Bludee is clear that this matters for routine maintenance as well as after a component is replaced, and after a compressor failure it is the difference between one repair and two.

Automation, storage and record-keeping

The machine recovers, recycles, evacuates, leak-tests and recharges as one sequence and stops itself when the selected functions are complete. Recovered refrigerant is purified and stored in an internal cylinder of 10KG with a heater, so it is available for re-use rather than being wasted; the machine can also transfer liquid refrigerant in from an external cylinder. Recharging runs at 1Kg/Min.

Around that: automatic used-oil discharge, automatic new-oil injection reporting what was removed, automatic internal tank refill so a service is never halted by a low cylinder, and automatic air purge so non-condensable gas cannot accumulate and quietly destroy charge accuracy. Charge quantities come from a large stored database of makes and models carrying the manufacturers' recommended refrigerant and oil figures. A built-in thermal printer produces the record, the display is a full-colour touch screen running on an Android platform, units switch between metric and imperial, and the refrigerant cylinder load cell, oil vessel load cells, pressure transducer and temperature sensor are all calibratable on the machine.

Space and power — and one measurement to confirm first

Supply is 110V at 60 Hz single phase from an ordinary outlet, and maximum working pressure is 20 bar, given as 290 PSI in our catalogue data. The crate measures 720 x 670 x 1,170 mm.

Published figures for the unpacked cabinet differ. Bludee's own table gives it as 630 x 560 x 1,075 mm and, in the same cell, as 24" x 22" x 46" — the metric and the imperial heights describe different cabinets, and each is reproduced above exactly as Bludee publishes it. If the machine has to fit a defined space, ask us and we will have Bludee confirm the dimension in writing before you order. Preparing a suitable, ventilated position with an adequate supply is the owner's responsibility either way.

Recovery efficiency

Both of Bludee's sources agree on this model, which is worth noting because they do not always: the overview text and the specification table both give 99% recovery. It is a manufacturer's own figure rather than an independently assessed one — see the note below — but at least it is a single consistent figure.

Perfect For

• Workshops servicing hybrids and electric vehicles alongside conventional ones, where PAG and POE must never meet.
• Dealerships and franchised shops working to a documented procedure with recorded charge quantities.
• A/C repair specialists for whom flushing and long evacuations are routine rather than exceptional.
• Higher-volume operations where a faster pump and a walk-away sequence turn evacuation time into someone else's job.

What's in the box

The AC900 with its internal refrigerant cylinder and heater, three oil injection vessels and used-oil vessel, spin-on filter-drier, onboard load cells, built-in thermal printer, touch-screen interface and vehicle database. Refrigerant, PAG and POE oils and UV dye are consumables and are not supplied. Bludee itemises nothing beyond that, so nothing further is claimed here — ask us to confirm a specific coupler, hose or flush adapter before ordering if your process depends on it.

Key specifications

Certification and compliance, stated honestly

No independent performance listing for this machine appears in the information we hold, and this page does not imply one. That is worth saying on a unit like this in particular: almost everything it does is a measurement, from the load cells that decide a charge quantity to the pressure and temperature sensors, and a recovery figure published by the company selling the machine is not the same thing as one verified by a party with no interest in the outcome. If a manufacturer warranty programme, an insurer or a local requirement obliges your shop to use assessed equipment, settle that question before you buy. Ask us and we will request Bludee's compliance paperwork and forward precisely what they provide.

Delivery and pickup

Crated freight to the lower 48 states. The freight cost is quoted live for your address during checkout rather than estimated here, and deliveries to residential addresses carry a residential fee. Work out the unload before it ships: a crated machine needs a dock, a forklift or a terminal collection, and the last of those is usually the easiest if you have neither of the first two. When it arrives, inspect the crate before signing and write any damage on the bill of lading in front of the driver — that note is what a freight claim rests on, and a clean signature effectively closes the matter.

Warranty

The terms and the claim route are published on our warranty claims page, and we will send you the manufacturer's current document before purchase if it bears on the decision. If a fault appears, contact us before anyone opens the machine. It contains a sealed refrigerant circuit, calibrated load cells and a pressure vessel, and a machine taken apart before it has been assessed cannot be assessed afterwards — disassembly ends the warranty.