Reusing refrigerant from recovery bottles

[asherrill784]

I am wondering about cleaning refrigerant thats been recovered from a system to be reused in other systems. Someone told me all the refrigerant they recover they clean with a filter drier and through some somewhat simple process he puts all his refrigerant in larger tanks.

Just wondering if anyone knew of how this process works, what i need to do.

sorry i can explain more of it.


BTW first time posting...

[Brian_UK]

Most recovery machine manufacturers make cleaning kits to fit their machines.

Generally, as you suggest, filter/driers and oil separators ect.

[SeanB]

Most of the time I pump the refrigerant through a drier to a storage bottle, then put it back in the system it came from. One for R22, another for R134A. When I start with other refrigerants I will have to get extra bottles for each one. Extra make up refrigerant comes from the bottle, as scrapped systems ( that have not lost all to a leak, but where the compressor is tired, but still trying to operate with a coil that is pipe only and no fins) get the same treatment before they meet Mr angle grinder and make the last boat trip to Ghangzhou.

[superslim007]

Most recovery machine will remove some moisture and oil but the key is which refrigerant you are recovering, single refrigerants like R22 and R134A don't have a problem going out of spec but some of the new blends are quite unstable like R422D which contains 3.4% hydrocarbon to help with oil return some of these refrigerants can very easily go out of spec and once that happens it is no longer the refrigerant it used to be and will perform differently

[jdunc2301]

Most recovery machine will remove some moisture and oil but the key is which refrigerant you are recovering, single refrigerants like R22 and R134A don't have a problem going out of spec but some of the new blends are quite unstable like R422D which contains 3.4% hydrocarbon to help with oil return some of these refrigerants can very easily go out of spec and once that happens it is no longer the refrigerant it used to be and will perform differently

Done it before, all we did was put a filter/drier in-line with the reclaim machine into a clean reclaim bottle. Just be careful with blends as he says ^^^

J

[Fri3Oil System]

Done it before, all we did was put a filter/drier in-line with the reclaim machine into a clean reclaim bottle. Just be careful with blends as he says ^^^

J

The filter drier will remove partially the moisture, but you need a liquid separator to remove the oils(acids) as well, otherwise, the recovered gas is a residue.

Regards,

Nando.

[Tesla]

Hi ash
This was ten years ago on the last phase out of the good refrigerants. I worked for a chiller specialist & used a giant still to clean R11 & R123, it may have been used for other refrigerants. The onus here would (no should) be that all refrigerant is returned to the manufacturer. The or some of the ingrediants could be seperated from recovered refrigerant. Certain ingrediants sepeate in a still at a given temperature, pressure & flow rate. Stills are great for making booze too.

[jdunc2301]

The filter drier will remove partially the moisture, but you need a liquid separator to remove the oils(acids) as well, otherwise, the recovered gas is a residue.

Regards,

Nando.

it doesnt clean it correct, have done it on systems when only replacing a single component or a small leak.

J

[Fri3Oil System]

it doesnt clean it correct, have done it on systems when only replacing a single component or a small leak.

J

Do you know the quantity in ppm's of impurities/dirt/water you got?

[jdunc2301]

Do you know the quantity in ppm's of impurities/dirt/water you got?

No..its irrelevant on the small stuff im dealing with... eg:

Perfectly healthy working system having a pressure switch replaced due to a small amount of corrosion, reclaiming and charging with virgin becomes an affordability issue nowadays...if in doubt rip it out and charge with virgin...