Core: Refrigerant Handling, Recovery and Environmental Safety
Scope
This domain covers legal and environmental obligations plus the safe physical handling of refrigerants during recovery, charging and disposal.
Legal frame
The Philippines is a party to the Montreal Protocol, so HCFC-22 is on the Article 5 phase-out schedule and virgin supply shrinks each year; the Kigali Amendment adds an HFC phase-down that affects R-410A and R-32 blends. Nationally, RA 6969 controls toxic and hazardous substances including ozone-depleting chemicals, and RA 8749 (Clean Air Act) prohibits their release. Practical effect: no deliberate venting, documented recovery, and refrigerant usage logs kept for inspection.
Field practice
- Recover with a certified machine into a labelled, approved recovery cylinder - never a disposable can or an unmarked jug.
- Fill by weight, never above 80% of the cylinder's water capacity, because liquid expansion with temperature leaves no headroom.
- Never mix refrigerant types; label with type, date and quantity.
- R-410A is a near-azeotropic blend: charge as liquid, otherwise the composition shifts.
- Cylinders upright, secured, below about 50 °C, away from flame; nitrogen always through a regulator.
- R-32 is A2L and R-290 is A3: both are flammable - no ignition source, ventilate, and braze only after recovery and purge.
- Wear gloves and goggles; liquid refrigerant causes frostbite.
Worked example
A 12 L water-capacity recovery cylinder is to receive R-410A (liquid density ≈ 1.06 kg/L at 25 °C). Maximum fill = 0.8 × 12 L = 9.6 L, giving about 10 kg of refrigerant. Set the cylinder on a scale and stop at tare plus 10 kg, watching the scale rather than the gauge.
Traps
Filling "until full"; decanting into an unlabelled cylinder; warming a cylinder with a torch; topping up R-410A as vapour; assuming recovered refrigerant can be reused without recycling or verification.