Interesting Discovery today!

This is for all of the air conditioner people out there. I called (Finally, after 4 months) about two window ac's that I have had for a long time. Anyway, I called the a guy about getting them drained, and he said quote "they are not worth it to drain them, as you have to put new freon in them to get the old stuff out. There is less than one pound of freon in them. Just bleed them out slowly, and don't drill a hole in them as you'll get oil all over your face." I said thanks and hung up. .... WHAT!!!!!! I just wasted like three months of my time trying to contact you, and I find out that I should just cut the lines because only the commercial units have to be drained by regulation. Have any of y'all heard of this? This guy was legit and runs his own business less than a mile from my house.

I DO NOT ADVISE ANYONE CUTTING FREON LINES IN ANY APPLIANCE CONTAINING FREON. YOU CAN GET ARRESTED, FINED, AND PUT IN JAIL FOR RELEASING FREON INTO THE AIR.

It doesn't matter if it's commercial or residential, it is illegal to let the freon go in the air. We are not able to discuss any illegal ways of releasing the freon.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by KZBell

It doesn't matter if it's commercial or residential, it is illegal to let the freon go in the air. We are not able to discuss any illegal ways of releasing the freon.

---

Alright, that's exactly what I thought, and that's why I called him in the first place. I have not done anything to the units, so don't revoke my membership or anything. Well, I guess I will just keep looking.

Nothing in the class I took said it was ok to open a system to the atmosphere until it had been drained. I was told that if it leaked due to a mechanical problem then it was not illegal. I would suggest you look into current licensing and consider performing this as a service for yourself and perhaps others. Remember the used refrigerant has value and can be sold. Mike.

In all walks of life you have some people that are good at what they do and those that cut corners. There are MANY HVAC techs that do things improperly or poorly. Most of the time this is because a lot of what we do is OJT. What follows is kind of a garbage in, garbage out effect. He was WRONG to tell you to do that (which I sure you knew). His suggestion most likely comes from the EPA not requiring a tech to fix a small leak, it instead allows a tech to "top off" a system. This does NOT mean you can make a leak.