R-22 Buy Back Programs

[sjofkfr]

Has anyone tried one these programs yet? If so, which one and how is working for you?

I am thinking that it is ridiculous for me not to be selling it back, but am a little concerned about the purity levels and drop off in pricing. Any information is greatly appreciated.

Thanks-

[BaldLoonie]

http://www.raprec.com/

[mark beiser]

We've been doing it for a few years, I forget the name of the company.
They supply us with a 250# cylinder we transfer recovered refrigerant from our smaller tanks to.
When it is filled, they bring us a new cylinder, and take the full one away.

As of a month or two ago, they were paying $3 a pound.

[sjofkfr]

I think the company you are using is the same one I am looking into...Diversified Pure Chem.

Have you had any problems you know of with mixed refrigerants and having to pay them? Do you take any extra precautions when recovering i.e. different hoses, making sure to clear out and evacuate your recovery machine when changing refrigerant types...

[mark beiser]

We pretty much only deal with R-22 and R-410a systems, so it isn't to difficult to avoid mixing them. I just purge my recovery machine and hoses when I'm hooking up to recover, and have separate recovery bottles on our trucks for each.

They have deductions to the per pound price they pay if there is to much oil in the refrigerant, or if it doesn't meet certain purity standards, but we haven't been hit with any yet.
I've dumped some fairly nasty burned refrigerant into their tank too.

[Baycienda]

My experience with them is that you need to be very careful. I've had a brand new recovery tank with R-22 that came from a couple systems that ran for years. Put it in the shop, let it stabilize for 48 hours with gauges on it, compared it to a pressure temp chart and still got bit on having to have the refrigerant disposed of and have to buy a new recovery tank. It must be certain companies, but the ones I work with its a pain in the butt.

[austinsaysay]

Make sure all employees are fully aware of the refrigerants they are recovering and transfering into the big buy back bottle. The check thaty normally would have been about $1200 reduced to $350 because there was about 4% r410a mixed into the r22. makes it not worth the trouble with those numbers. So be careful, and it works out

[craig1]

I was in talks with a company that had an awesome program and I lost their info

They would buy back refrigerant in 30 and 50 LB cylinders and pay shipping both ways. The small cylinders are great because if you mess up one, you don't ruin 250 LBS of refrigerant. on top of that if you do have a contaminated cylinder, they dispose of the gas for free, and don't charge like some companies do.

I wish I could find their info.

[mark beiser]

makes it not worth the trouble with those numbers. So be careful, and it works out

Hey, it wasn't that long ago that we were paying $15 to swap a full bottle of clean recovered refrigerant for an empty, and >$100 to dispose of mixed or contaminated refrigerant, so getting anything back is a big bonus!

But yeah, it would bite to only get $350 back when you were expecting $1200.

[sjofkfr]

My experience with them is that you need to be very careful. I've had a brand new recovery tank with R-22 that came from a couple systems that ran for years. Put it in the shop, let it stabilize for 48 hours with gauges on it, compared it to a pressure temp chart and still got bit on having to have the refrigerant disposed of and have to buy a new recovery tank. It must be certain companies, but the ones I work with its a pain in the butt.

Make sure all employees are fully aware of the refrigerants they are recovering and transfering into the big buy back bottle. The check thaty normally would have been about $1200 reduced to $350 because there was about 4% r410a mixed into the r22. makes it not worth the trouble with those numbers. So be careful, and it works out

These are my worries...

Don't want to be sent a bill instead of a check. And worried about getting my employees to be as careful as they need to be.

[BaldLoonie]

Rapid Recovery comes here and sucks my 50# jugs. So we don't have to transfer over to big jugs that take up room. The installers fill the 50# and that's it. And by doing it in 50# increments, if a little 410 got into a 22 jug, you don't lose that much which has already been pointed out. They give us a report with cylinder S/N and how much they got & paid. Been great. Certainly if a franchise is serving you boyzes areas, check it out.

The credit memo I attached was from last spring. I think price paid has increased. But $400 isn't bad for 4 50# jugs!

[sjofkfr]

Unfortunately, they are not in my area...

Live in Oklahoma.

I do, however, see they have franchise's available. Might be something to think about, if only I had some extra cash lying around...

[matt1124]

To simplify the math... $145 plus 30# of your recovered R22 for a ARI 700 certified and sealed 30# drum from a national reclamation facility. Hard to beat a deal like that!