# Question for the pros about recovery tanks



## Upton O Good (Apr 14, 2013)

Hi guys,

Well I took my EPA test last week, and I'm excited to do some HVAC work. I'm quite "green" with only knowledge from reading and watching others. So I still have many questions.

My interest in refrigerants is mainly as a scientist and system designer, not to become a contractor. I have a good career in Electrical Engineering where I focus mainly on designing high powered microwave equipment, like RF amplifiers, waveguide structures, antennas, high current DC power supplies, etc, which all require cooling. 

Until now our cooling systems have all been either passive, or external (meaning we push the cooling requirement onto someone else). But I've been working closely with an M.E. co-worker, we are planning to design our own custom chilling and heat transfer sub-systems, and test them in our labs.

We understand all the physics, thermodynamics, and electrical. What we lack is practical knowledge about the process of handling refrigerants.

Today my question is a very simple one. How do you guys manage recovery tanks? Under what conditions do you re-use refrigerant, or not? If you fill up a recovery tank, do you take it down to your local distributor? Do they exchange for an empty one, or instead draw out the contents and give back the same container? Does the refrigerant have any remaining value at that time? What else do I need to know about managing those tanks?

Thank you in advance. I do appreciate the unique knowledge base you have.

--Upton O Good :euro:


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## beenthere (May 30, 2009)

Reuse when just recovering ti to do a repair.

Exchange it at distributor and get paid a small amount for it.

Got to know how much you are allowed to put in it. that you are using a high pressure one on R410A. Your DOT tag for it when transporting it.


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