The Safe Disposal of Refrigerants
The safe disposal of refrigerants can be daunting, especially when you’ve never thrown away a device before. The easiest way is to ask your local technician to dispose of your AC. Learn more about the process with our handy guide below.
The Safe Disposal of Refrigerants:
To dispose of refrigerants properly, a technician qualified to work with F-gases must recover the product from the equipment or device. For example:
- – Commercial or industrial systems
- – High-voltage switchgear
- – Portable, mobile and stationary air conditioning
- – Stationary heat pumps
- – Stationary fire protection systems
- – Trucks, trailers, ships and other vehicles
It is not always cost-effective to recover F-gases, but they must be recovered, reclaimed, recycled or destroyed (whichever possible) by a registered waste carrier to a licensed waste facility. It is illegal to release F-gases into the air as stipulated by the law.
If the F-gas is no longer needed and can be recovered, it can then be reused—typically by the company who owns the refrigeration system or carried out the recovery.
What Happens if I Incorrectly Dispose of Refrigerants?
The regulations on the disposal of refrigerants are extremely strict. If wrongly disposed of, they can have an adverse effect on our environment both directly and indirectly.
Directly, if the refrigerant starts to leak into our atmosphere, it can not only endanger wildlife, but impact global warming and diminish ozones.
Indirectly, refrigerants and AC units consume energy, so even when in daily use, using the wrong refrigerant and systems can raise carbon emissions and also contribute to global warming.
Similarly, you may unknowingly be using a contaminated or banned refrigerant as per the Government’s F-gas guidance. It’s important to immediately dispose of illegal refrigerants and send any contaminated ones to a reclamation facility.
Refrigerant Disposal at Southern Counties AC
At Southern Counties AC, we are registered with the Environment Agency to safely dispose of your unwanted refrigerants. We ensure a method that reduces the impact on our environment by reusing refrigerants whenever possible.
If you are also disposing of your old air conditioning system, why not consider us to install your new one? We work with leading brands, such as Daikin and Mitsubishi, and provide an efficient service every time.
Whether you require a repair for your residential lot or the regular servicing of multiple AC units for commercial use, contact us today and we’ll be there to help.