Chapter 9 Refrigerants
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Recycling the refrigerant involves the following processes:
You recover a refrigerant when you remove it from
Recovery
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an AC system (in order to repair or replace a component) and then
store, transport, recycle, or reclaim it. This is a closed loop pro-
cess. The recovered refrigerant may vary in quality. Refer to the
Recovering and Recycling the Refrigerant section for a complete
description of the recovery process.
Recycle You recycle a refrigerant when you remove contami-
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nants such as moisture, acidity, and particulate matter. Many
refrigerants are reusable at this stage. Refer to the Recovering
and Recycling the Refrigerant section for a complete description of
the recycle process.
You reclaim a refrigerant when you send it to an
Reclaim
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outside facility which can restore it to a new product specification.
This reprocessing usually includes both a chemical analysis and
distillation of the recycled refrigerant. Refer to the Reclaiming the
Refrigerant section for a complete description of the recycle pro-
cess.
Recharging an AC system requires the following procedures:
You flush certain AC system components and hoses to
Flush
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remove contaminants within them. Flushing prepares the AG
system for the new refrigerant. Refer to Flushing the AC System
section below.
Evacuate --You evacuate the AC system to remove moisture and
air. Refer to the Evacuating and Charging the AC System section
below.
Charge You charge the AC system by adding new refrigerant
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to the system.
Recovering and Recycling the Refrigerant
Recovery/Recycle Station
When troubleshooting indicates that a component in a closed AC system
be replaced or removed for service, refrigerant must be removed from the
system. A handy, dual purpose station performs both recovery and recycle
procedures allowing us to follow the new guidelines for handling used
refrigerant. The recovered refrigerant can then be recycled to reduce
contaminants, and reused.
Equipment is also available to just remove or extract the refrigerant.
Extraction equipment does not clean the refrigerant. It is used to recover
the refrigerant from an AC system prior to servicing.
To accomplish this, the recovery/recycle station separates the oil from
the refrigerant and filters the refrigerant multiple times to reduce mois-
ture, acidity, and particulate matter found in a used refrigerant.
Mixing refrigerant types damages equipment. Dedicate
one recovery/recycle station to each type of refrigerant
processing to avoid equipment damage.