If you work in the HVACR industry, you should know that if you're servicing or disposing of a piece of equipment that contains refrigerant, by law the refrigerant must be reclaimed and placed into an acceptable storage container. In 1990, the Clean Air Act of 1990 mandated that all chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) and halocarbons, containing fluorine, chlorine, carbon, and hydrogen (HCFCs) be reclaimed. Prior to July 1, 1992, the only accepted practice for removing refrigerant from a system was to release it directly to the atmosphere. There was no other widely used method for disposing it.

Luckily for all of us, reclaim machines have not only become smaller since they were first introduced, but they have also become a lot faster. The first unit I ever used weighed over 75 pounds and reclaimed four pounds per hour. It could take half a day to get the refrigerant out of even a small system before you could even start the repair.

The early machines were nothing more than a small refrigeration unit; complete with compressor and a couple extra solenoids and valves. The new oil-less units are capable of pumping small amounts of liquid, and have been a welcomed sight to technicians.

Refrigerant recovery is nothing more than removing refrigerant from a system in which it's installed, and placing it into a drum or cylinder for storage or disposal. The actual process, however, is a little more detailed.

1. Once it's been determined that a system must be reclaimed, a standard set of refrigeration gauges will be placed on the liquid and suction line ports of the system.

2. If an empty reclaim bottle is available it should be pulled into a vacuum and connected to the remaining center port hose of the gauge set and left loose.

3. The high side valve on the manifold should be opened slightly to bleed air and non-condensables through the high side hose as well as the service hose, and out of the loose hose connection on the reclaim bottle (each hose can be purged individually as well, if preferred).

4. After several seconds, tighten the hose connection on the bottle, and completely open the high side valve on the gauge manifold. You should now have a solid column of liquid refrigerant up to the recovery bottle. If you're able to run the system that's being serviced, it'll speed the recovery process. At this point, it'll be condensing the refrigerant and raising system pressure.

5. Now, open the valve on the bottle and liquid refrigerant will flow from the high-pressure system to the low-pressure bottle. This will take place until the pressures equalize. If the system is running, it's important to watch the low side gauge to make sure the system doesn't start to run in a vacuum.

6. Once the suction gauge reaches about one pound, it will be time to shut the system down. With all of the liquid out of the system, it will now be time to connect the reclaim machine.

7. The hose from the bottle will now be connected to the discharge line of the machine.

8. Another hose should be connected from the center port of the gauges to the inlet port of the reclaim machine.

9. A small filter drier should be placed in-line to capture any particles. Lines to the reclaim machine should be purged, and high and low side valves on the manifold can now be opened.

10. The inlet and discharge valve on the reclaim machine should be opened, and the recovery can begin. At this point, refrigerant is now being removed from both the high and low sides of the system. This process will take place until either the LP switch on the machine opens or an adequate vacuum is reached.

11. Once the machine is stopped with the valves closed, keep an eye on the gauges to make sure they don't rise. If they do, there's still refrigerant present in the system. Another tell tale sign that there's refrigerant still present in the system is frost at low points of the system, as well as in the accumulator.

12. If none of these signs are present, all that's left to do is purge the lines and the machine. The system is now ready for service or disposal.