Free Fridges/freezers!!!

I'm a small time scrapper and do this as a hobby for some fun money and for something to do. I just got asked if I would like 50-100 fridges and freezers for scrapping!? The local guy that I talked to said he could recover/empty the freon for $40 an hour and he said he can do about 4-5 ac's/or appliances an hour. I'm just wondering if it would be worth the money to pay him to do all of these for me just so I can scrap all the copper from the lines and compressors? Anyone have any advice. If I don't take this deal its no big thing to me, I find plenty of other regular scrap appliance laying around and get calls for lots of non freon scrap all the time. Just wondering if I would profit/ if it would pay off in the long run or if I would be losing some, or even lots of money buy paying him to do this and not making enough in return on crap? Advice please! Oh yeah this is an old hotel that was shut down in my town, and I stopped to chit chat and thats when I told them I was a scrapper and that when they asked me if I was interested.

depends on how long it'll take him to recover the refrigerant, with prices the way they are you have to really be careful about loosing money. If he could do it quickly then there's definitely still a profit there as all that copper will add up very nicely.

That comes out to about $10. ea invested not counting your time and gas, sounds like a break even deal to me.
Some people will pull the freon for a little plus their getting the used freon to resell. Sounds like the other guy is making out like a bandit.
Just my 2 cents.

Revenant, here's his speed;

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The local guy that I talked to said he could recover/empty the freon for $40 an hour and he said he can do about 4-5 ac's/or appliances an hour

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According to his math , the guy wants $800 to remove the freon . 100 appliances 4-5 a hr = 20 hours x $40 a hour . Do you get to keep the freon ? I would not make this deal either way . My .02

Doesn't the freon actually sell for a pretty high price per lb? I remember reading somewhere on here it goes for like $40 a lb or something. If he can resell it for a good price he should be happy to get it for free or charge a
much cheaper price IMO.

If some of them are in working order, consider selling those on Craigslist or a local Facebook Swap site. You'd have a lot of time involved in delivering to him and then picking up again, processing and reloading for shred.

I don't see any money to be made there.

You're paying $10 per refrigerator (more or less). That's about what you could get out of them. I think it would be a lot of work as a break-even proposition, at best.

Thanks for all the advise so far! The guy lives 1 mile out of town, he said that price cause of his time and cause the freon containers cost him about $200 a piece he said. I will talk to him again soon and see if I can get a better deal/rate, but if not then I will just have to pass it up. I've only been scrapping for about 2 months, so yes I'm a newbie, and all your guys/gals advice is great. And yes I have done two tours in iraq as an infantryman so you can't really offend me.

Yeah, they cost $200 until you fill them and send them back full, get paid for the referigerant, and get the deposit back.

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Originally Posted by scrapping4ever

Yeah, they cost $200 until you fill them and send them back full, get paid for the referigerant, and get the deposit back.

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And along with that they will send you/give you a new tank.

And Daak85, check out this link, you might enjoy it.
http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/off-t...roll-call.html

I'm with Yunkman on this one. Since they are from a motel that closed, they may all be in working order. That is a question worth asking. If they are, it changes things. You don't have to scrap them or pull the Freon. Even if they don't work, contact a local appliance repair place and tell them what you have and you may be able to sell to them without scrapping.

I would find out how many work, how old they are, and see what you can sell, not scrap. Also, will you have to store any for any period of time? Can you? Straight scrapping after paying the freon guy doesn't seem profitable but if you could turn around maybe half of them without paying the other guy it sounds like you could make some profit.

If a lot of them work I suggest looking for a repair outfit that might take them all at once.

I would call around first I've got a guy that buys all my fridges for $50 a piece broken he just won't touch Frigidaire. It's worth a try but going the other way seems high to me.

Yes resale is king. If not contact yards and ask if they require appliances to be drained of freon. If not tAke a uuhaul full of them down and dump them off for ez money in shred. Possibly pull shelves for resale ice makers, various parts. Good luck.

Will scrap yards there take them with the Freon? If so sell and be done, heck the scrapyard may even drop off a container or truck 100 fridges take up a lot of space...

If you have a place to store them, you might want to consider getting the credentials to recover the refrigerant. With that many units it could go a long way to paying for certification and equipment.

Just one mans opinion.

Only way I'd do it if my yard didn't take refrigs with freon in them, is if he would do it for the freon. But I dont have to worry about that. My yard takes the fridges and what not. What they do with them well I dont know and if its illegal, well its not on me.

I'VE been staying away from this one for a while and finally decided I had to comment.
First, I think it is very reasonable for a shop doing recovery to charge $40 an hour, in fact, I think they are probably screwing themselves. 4 to 5 machines per hour is realistic, unless they are set up to do large scale recoveries consisently. I see many people questionin th ed value of the refrigerant and who gets to keep it. With 100 units, i'd be surprised to see any less than 4 different types. Each type needs to be recovered sepeatery and each has a different value. Each different unit, with its different refrigerant type will have a different quantitype of refrigerant. Older R-12 and R-22 units may have a pound or more where newer R-134a or R-410 may only have about 6 ounces. You need to consider the price that a company may buy from you. You and they need to be certified to do th ed transaction. Lastly, I noticed that you are in minnesota. There can't be that great of a need for refrigerant up there. My guess is that you would only get paid for R-22 and only a couple dollars a pound.

Get your license.

Freon Joe has posted on this many times, so you may want to scroll back an read his various posts on the subject. Much good info there.

My advice..as above..get certified or find someone who is willing to recover it a bit cheaper.

Average pay per hour for a HVAC tech is 20 bucks an change. According to the BLS. ;) Sure HVAC guys won't like me saying that, but hey..the info is there. Use it to get you a better price if need be. Your boss paying you 40 bucks an hour to recover? If not then why would you expect me to?

Good luck!

Sirscrapalot - Knowledge is indeed power.

first-see if the fridges can be resold as is

second-speak to your yard-maybe they take the fridges as is & they remove the freon

last-make a deal with the guy for one fixed amount for removing freon from all the fridges-that way, he can take longer to do the job but it wont cost you more.

remove as much wire as possible, take to scrap yard and get paid. Screw the hvac guy. I have a guy that comes by and removes it for nothing when I get a/c's in the spring and summer. He knows what its worth.

I found another yard that will actually take them with freon in them. and they take care of that stuff, so if these people want me to I will strip what I can and then just haul the rest to the yard.

Pics?

My yard takes all refrigeration equipment from me and they don't charge me for freon recovery.

Load them up and take them to the yard. Let them worry about the freon...

You lose a lot copper and refrigerant when you scrap without recovering. You could post a gig on Craig'slist for a tech to recover the gas. You may find an out of work tech or freelancer who will jump at the chance for some work