scrapping home ac unit

Someone I know just replaced their home ac unit and are going to give the old one to me. Just called local yard and said you have to be a licensed hvac or I have to get a copy of their receipt & letter from them. Just wondering what you have to do to turn in a ac unit.

As Mechanic688 stated, the refrigerant must be properly removed. The EPA's Clean Air Act provides strict regulations on the recovery of refrigerants and imposes a fine of $37,500 per day for the intentional venting / release of refrigerants.

yep I know all about that,what I meant was how much hassle do you have to go thru at the scrap yard to turn it in.

Depends on your yard. Do they take them full? Do they require certification or signature that refrigerant was removed? best bet is to ask them.

The refrigerant may have already been reclaimed.Is this a window unit or a central air unit. As I have posted before most(not all) central air unit have valves on them. The liquid line valve can be closed and unit ran momentarily while watching your gages. When pressure drops to zero the suction line valve is to be closed. I have done this several times in the past to work on, or replace the condensor. The problem with this method is the old unit can only pump down and hold so much juice. My point is the juice may have been reclaimed and taken by the Hvac tech,unit could have been flat upon replacement(leaked out due to leak),or pumped back into unit. Check the valves if present,usually under hex caps where copper is hooked to unit. Most times under the cap is a Allen wrench type of valve. If they are screwed in there may be juice in unit.

If you take it apart and sell the componets seperate then you don't need to go through all that.

Originally Posted by happyscraper

If you take it apart and sell the componets seperate then you don't need to go through all that.

that is funny, because the scrapyard i go to here in georgia, seems to say the opposite. If i bring a "whole unit" to the non ferrous side they will take it. but when i start trying to maximize my money and take out the copper fin and motor, they say i have have a license , etc. . THEY WILL TAKE the elbows from the fins, but not the copper pipes because the had lines, and could tell they came out of air conditioner. i find it a little hypocritical, but whatever. I still have a larger window unit, and the guts of a an outside home unit sitting in garage from last summer. (i took it apart and took just the steel ) I have been to mix in some of the copper tubes, from a window unit into my regular copper scrap. Wish it was easier to melt down copper, or put it through something like a wood chipper lol.