Quote Originally Posted by mthomasdev View Post
This thread has been revived from a few years ago.

It has some wrong information that needs to be corrected. The new refrigerants (134a and 410a) can not be released. Yes they are not as harmful to the environments as R12 and R22, but it is still illegal to intentionally release them.



I am going to say this once and not get into arguments with people here. If you are not licensed to recover refrigerant, please leave ACs to those of us who are licensed and properly trained, or bring them to a yard that accepts them whole and handles them properly. And for those of you that don't know, the EPA can fine you $37,500 for the intentional release of refrigerant. In addition, they may provide a finders fee of up to $10,000 for people that report those that are intentionally releasing refrigerant.
AC's leak everyday. Fridge lines, cars that are sent to the crusher and so many more. Yes I agree you may not want to be venting all this and it is WAY better to have someone harvest it to recycle after all that's what we do here recycle, Not sure if the EPA would go after a homeowner processing his own unit, but yes if you were breaking down a lot in your garage it could be very bad $, and more. I've been to scrap yards and seen fridges smashed refrigerant released in the steel pile. So get a price on whole units and go from there...