Recovered refrigerant returns, logged cylinder by cylinder for your reclaimer.

Today the counter reads the technician's tag, finds the retest date stamped on the collar, weighs the cylinder, works out the net and writes a receipt with the refrigerant and estimated pounds. The deposit and any buyback credit go on the contractor's account, the cylinder goes into the cage, and weeks later the reclaimer's analysis arrives with its own weight and purity for someone to reconcile.

For the test, AI reads copies of those tickets, tags, collar photos and scale weights with your reclaimer's terms and settlement reports, and drafts the log line for each cylinder: refrigerant as tagged, cylinder type and retest date, gross, tare and net, every program rule it checked, and how the counter credit compares with what the reclaimer paid. It accepts nothing, credits nothing and ships nothing.

Your receipt is part of the contractor's records. Since 2018, under 40 CFR 82.156(a)(3), a technician who recovers refrigerant to dispose of an appliance holding more than 5 and less than 50 pounds keeps three years of records, including how much of each refrigerant went for reclamation or destruction, to whom, and on what date. Your drop-off receipt is where those facts come from. Under 82.154(d), used refrigerant can't be sold as refrigerant until a certified reclaimer has reclaimed it, so recovered refrigerant never goes back on the shelf, and EPA's list of certified reclaimers shows which ones accept refrigerant from outside companies.

The cylinder is checked before the gas. Federal hazmat rules bar filling and shipping a cylinder that is past its requalification, though one filled before the date came due may stay in service until it is emptied. A coated DOT 4BA or 4BW cylinder used only for non-corrosive gas may go 12 years between tests instead of 5, and the mark is the retester's ID set between the month and year. One maker's sheet rates its 30- and 50-pound recovery cylinders DOT-4BA at 400 psig, gray with a yellow collar under AHRI Guideline K, with gross weight capped at 0.8 times water capacity times the refrigerant's specific gravity, plus tare. Its A2L cylinders have left-hand threads and a red stripe.

One refrigerant per cylinder, with exceptions. Arkema's reclaim guidance asks for a separate cylinder for each refrigerant, except that blends sharing a number may share one, such as R-407A with R-407C, and R-404A may go in with R-507A. Programs differ on the rest. RSD's exchange adds no charge for mixed refrigerant or out-of-date cylinders, while one distributor's buyback flyer calls mixed refrigerant not reclaimable and puts R-32 and R-454B on its 2025 rate list; a 2021 Canadian wholesaler's program took only nonflammable fluorocarbons. EPA's 2024 rule also bars calling refrigerant reclaimed if it holds recovered HFC that never had bona fide use in equipment. The draft applies your reclaimer's written rules and names each one it used.

Two weights, two credits. The counter's weight is an estimate. One distributor's program weighs and tags each jug at the branch, gives an instant credit per pound, then adds credit after its partner's purity testing, which can take up to eight weeks. The same Canadian program recorded cylinder serial numbers at deposit, refused overfilled cylinders and took title only after analysis. On the reclaimer's side, 82.164 has it log each sender's name and address and the combined mass of refrigerant and contaminants by type, transaction by transaction. The draft ties each line on that settlement back to a cylinder, a contractor and the credit your counter gave.

Tags drive the paperwork. Hudson's Q&A for one manufacturer's reclaim program ties detailed return data to a completed tag on every cylinder, sends empties back like for like within 48 hours for 30- and 50-pound sizes, and pays 30 days after receiving an invoice. RSD gives each cylinder a tag number that follows it through processing, and National Refrigerants may charge to clean a cylinder returned less than half full. Your reviewer watches the stamped tare, the retest date, A2L cylinders, blank or mixed tags, and every credit the settlement doesn't support.

When your reviewer says yes against the success criteria, new cylinders coming across the counter get the same draft log line for about 30 days.

A person at the counter approves each line before a deposit is refunded or a credit posts, and whether a cylinder is accepted, held or sent back stays with your staff. Packing and shipping to the reclaimer stay with the people you have trained to ship hazardous materials.

You see the fixed price for that month before signing anything. A second reclaimer's program, or any other job, is decided and priced on its own.