safety handling

Refrigerant Identification

Work out which refrigerant is in a cylinder or system before you act on it.

9 steps3 criticalLimit 10 minAlways tested

Steps

1Read the cylinder label for the refrigerant name and number
2Critical stepCheck the equipment's nameplate or manufacturer data, where available, for the refrigerant it was designed for; treat it as a starting point, not proof of what is inside now
3Use cylinder color only as a hint, never as proof
4If the contents or service history are unknown, check pressure and temperature, and use a refrigerant identifier if you have one
5Note the refrigerant's pressure class, since it sets the recovery requirements
6Critical stepBefore a retrofit or top-off, confirm the refrigerant and oil are compatible; there are no drop-in replacements
7Keep refrigerants separate: never mix them in a system or a cylinder
8Record the refrigerant type and quantity you recover or add where required (for appliances with a full charge of 50 or more pounds of class I or II refrigerant, 40 CFR 82.157) and under your employer's rules
9Do not sell or pass on suspect or mixed refrigerant as it is: used refrigerant may be sold only after a certified reclaimer has reclaimed it (with listed exceptions), so follow your supplier's or reclaimer's instructions

Tips

Blends count as refrigerants under the rule. Blend components can leak at different rates (fractionation), so a blend that has leaked may no longer match its label.
EPA's exam topics list using pressure and temperature to identify refrigerants and detect noncondensables. Recovery does not test or process the refrigerant, so recovered refrigerant of unknown content is still unknown.
Exam recall: R-12 is a CFC, R-22 is an HCFC and R-134a is an HFC. CFCs have a higher ozone depletion potential than HCFCs, which have a higher one than HFCs.

Trusting the color of a cylinder over its label.
Assuming the refrigerant named on the equipment is still what is in the system after earlier service.
Recovering into a cylinder first and finding out later what it was.
Treating a blend as one of its component refrigerants.

Practice this skill

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Sources and how we check them: How we verify.