CLEAN AIR ACT
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates section 608 of the Federal Clean Air Act. Failure to
comply could cost you and your company as much as $27,500* per day, per violation and there is a bounty of up to
$10,000, to lure your competitors, customers and fellow workers to turn you in. Service technicians who violate Clean Air
Act provisions may be fined, lose their certification, and may be required to appear in Federal court. The EPA may
require technicians to demonstrate the ability to properly perform refrigerant recovery/recycling procedures. Fail‐
ing to demonstrate these skills can result in revocation of certification.
It is a violation of Section 608 to:
Falsify or fail to keep required records;
Fail to reach required evacuation rates prior to opening or disposing of appliances;
Knowingly release (vent) CFC's, HCFC's or HFC’s while repairing appliances, with the exception of de‐minimus releases;
Service, maintain, or dispose of appliances designed to contain refrigerants without being appropriately certified as of
November 14, 1994. (It is the responsibility of the final person in the disposal chain to ensure that refrigerant has been
removed from appliances before scrapping.)
Vent CFC's or HCFC's since July 1, 1992;
Vent HFC's since November 15, 1995;
Fail to recover CFC's, HCFC's or HFC’s before opening or disposing of an appliance;
Fail to have an EPA approved recovery device, equipped with low loss fittings, and register the device with the EPA;
Add nitrogen to a fully charged system, for the purpose of leak detection, and thereby cause a release of the mixture;
Dispose of a disposable cylinder without first recovering any remaining refrigerant (to 0 psig.) and then rendering the
cylinder useless, then recycling the metal;
In addition, some state and local government regulations may contain regulations that are as strict as or stricter than
Section 608.
MONTREAL PROTOCOL
Following several years of negotiations, an international agreement (Treaty) regulating the production and use of CFCs,
HCFC’s, halons, methyl chloroform and carbon tetrachloride entered into force in mid 1989. Known as The Montreal
Protocol, this landmark agreement initially required a production and consumption freeze. The Montreal Protocol
called for a stepwise reduction and eventual production phase out of various Ozone Depleting Substances in developed
countries. CFC's were phased‐out of production on December 31, 1995. HCFC refrigerants are scheduled of phase out in
the future. When virgin supplies of CFC's are depleted, future supplies will come from recovered, recycled, or re‐
claimed refrigerants.
THE THREE "R's”
(Recover ‐ Recycle ‐ Reclaim)
The processes of recovery, recycling, and reclaiming sound similar, but they are quite different.
RECOVER
is to remove refrigerant in any condition from a system and store it in an external container.
RECYCLE
is to clean refrigerant for reuse by separating the oil from the refrigerant and removing moisture from the
refrigerant by passing it through one or more filter driers.
RECLAIM
is to process refrigerant to a level equal to new (virgin) product specifications as determined by chemical
analysis. RECLAIMED refrigerant must meet the standard set forth in ARI 700 before it can be resold.
RECOVERY DEVICES
Refrigerant Recovery and/or Recycling equipment manufactured after November 15, 1993, must be certified and la‐
beled by an EPA approved equipment testing organization to meet EPA standards. There are two basic types of recov‐
ery devices.
1) “System‐dependent” which captures refrigerant with the assistance of components in the appliance from which
refrigerant is being recovered. 2) "Self‐contained” which has its own means to draw the refrigerant out of the
appliance.
*(although the current fine is higher $27,500 is the amount reflected on the EPA exam.)
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