🔍 Key Concepts

• Refrigerant recovery vs. recycling vs. reclaiming vs. destruction under EPA/USCG environmental rules • Compatibility of refrigerant type and system (same chemical, same pressure class) • When recovered refrigerant can be returned to the same system after maintenance

💭 Think About

• Ask yourself: If you remove HCFC-22 from a system to do repairs, under what conditions is it acceptable to put that same HCFC-22 back into that same system? • Consider whether refrigerants designed for different pressure classes (like low-pressure vs. high-pressure) are interchangeable or allowed to be mixed. • Think about whether the law automatically requires destruction of recovered refrigerant, or if the goal is actually to minimize new production by safely re‑using what was recovered.

✅ Before You Answer

• Verify whether recovered HCFC-22 can be used in systems that originally used other refrigerants such as HCFC-11. • Check if regulations allow returning recovered refrigerant to the same system it came from after repairs are complete, assuming it is not contaminated. • Confirm that the main environmental rule is to prevent venting to the atmosphere, not necessarily to require destruction of all recovered refrigerant.