Per your quote, you would never reuse a refrigerant that wasn't a blend, either, so why even try and qualify the statement by doing that? Yes, if you open a system for repairs it's always good practice to replace a filter that has been catching debris or adsorbing moisture, but to compare that to replacing an entire charge of perfectly good refrigerant when you have at least some if not most of that charge that was recovered for service purposes is comparing apples and oranges. Companies that engage in that sort of practice give our industry in general a bad name.
i could understand if it is a small system but when you get involved in large tonnage you would be out of work if you tried to replace the charge every time you needed to remove for service, the cost would be ridiculous.
I can understand all of you and your concerns, I also realize in big city applications things can get pretty large. But up here in the sticks, a 500 ton chiller is about as big as it gets. My personal experience, 700 pounds of refrigerant is about the largest capacity system I have dealt with. Ammonia system 18,000 pounds, but that's a cat of a different color.
Now I didn't say I replaced 700 pounds of refrigerant that was recovered, there are exceptions to every rule. I guess I have been fortunate enough to be able to pump down large capacity systems for leak repairs with limited virgin gas repacement.(That was for you largetonnage. LOL!). I am not out ramrodding customers making money on refrigerant, I am just making a point about recovery cylinders that seems to have gotten out of hand. Seems to happen alot around here.
Now lets put this whole thing into perspective, how often do you actually have to recover a system? I do not work for a huge company, there are only four of us out there doing service daily. Personally I have used my reclaimer maybe 10 times in the last 12 months, according to kept records, I have not reclaimed more than 400 pounds in that time. 90% of that was for equipment replacement, not for repairs of leaks where the refrigerant could have been re-used. Sometimes we are all too quick to jump, I am not doing anyone a disservice in my career.
If what you said initially is incorrect, then correct it and quit tapdancing. You said that you always replaced recovered refrigerant with virgin refrigerant, did you not? Then correct the statement if it's wrong. If your statement was a good representation of what you actually do in practice, then my personal opinion is that particular practice amounts to nothing more than legalized theft. I don't give a rats rear end how many, how few, how little, you recover, or the size of your company and how many times you drag out a recovery unit. Each customer is an individual job. They don't care, either. If you can do it, look at yourself in the mirror every day, and sleep with a clear conscience, then knock yourself out. But don't expect to come on here and say the things you've said and not get a severe rebuttal from folks that feel the way I do.
Now.......Did you speak too quickly the first time and need to retract that statement and replace it with one that's more in line with your actual practice, do you need to qualify what you said for a particular situation, or are you going to ride that horse to the ground?
Sorry guys I won't retract anything, I stand strong. All work is quoted and reviewed by the customer, fully knowing what is going to happen and the full cost. Everyone does things differently, legalized theft, I think not. Again I say, recovery tanks are for disposal only.
I am still unclear what you are saying.
I assume that you are reffering to recovery tanks that you rent from a vendor. I agree that there you are taking your chances.
But this is where I am unclear: If you are talking about the recovery tanks owned and maintained by your company I have to strongly disagree.
It is standard operating procedure to recover ref. and to recharge into the unit.
I recovery on average of 2 to 3 charges a month. It is no way to justify replacing the charge on a leak repair or brg. inspection unless you have a bad ref. analysis.
On a low pres. machine it is not uncommon to reuse ref. after a mild burn.
If you are saying that you can not recover ref. and reuse you are way out in left field.....You are so left field that you may not even be able to see Obama from there.
You can have refrigerant analyzed for $100, as an example, it costs twice that to dispose of the charge for a 5 ton gaspack....I don't think you are making any friends and think of the impact on the environment...
The only time I dispose of a refrigerant charge is if the system has had a peppered past or tests bad....Period.
I have put as little as 1 lb. back into service after a TXV replacement, as far as I know it is still running fine.
Do you think they are going to keep making phase out refrigerants forever? All of the R12 you can get right now is reclaimed.....Just sayin'.
GT
If a day goes by and you have learned nothing, I hope you got a lot of sleep.
Why do I have to pressure test the AC system with dry nitrogen. Can't I just put some refrigerant and use the leak detector ?
Heres a link to a unit on ebay,it sure looks like a standard compressed air tank underneath,makes me wonder if i can now make my own,if you think about it you can use a water heater body if you plug the unused ports and put the proper relief on it.(not that i would)
If everybody is so conserned with tank trash why don't you just run the refrigerant through a dryer when you put it back in?