View Full Version : Cutting charged pipe lines.
I found an fridge that the owner is throwing out and I don't know how long this is going to be here, so I need to work fast. I found a compressor in an old freezer that is charged with R12 and I want the compressor. I need to know if it would be safe to just cut the pipes that go up in to the freezer as seperating them from the fridge would be a long, which is time I don't have. The charge pipe is brazed and pinched so I don't think removing the gas would be doable as well. So, can I just cut them and take the compressor, or should I just forget it?
Charles Wirth
06-11-2004, 02:42 PM
Hold up on an answer,
Chilly1 spoke of a service balloon to reclaim gas. Maybe he found a source for them. It should be an easy way for us to prevent further release of gas into the atmosphere. I know most people dont have reclamation equipment.
pythagoras
06-11-2004, 02:45 PM
Not sure if this is strictly allowed where you live.
You could pinch each pipe that enters and exits the compressor in two places with each pinch say an inch apart and cut between the two pinch points. Very little refrigerant would escapes that way. But again am not sure how little would be allowed in your particular country.
Regards
John.
pythagoras
06-11-2004, 02:53 PM
Just thought of a better technique for this.
Flatten between an inch an two inches of the pipes you need to cut, then cut in the middle of the flattened portions and then once cut fold the flattened bits back on themselves. You shouldnt release any refrigerant that way.
And it will be very quick.
Regards
John.
Well I live in the USA and it's still light, so I'm gonna go do what pythagoras said...wish my luck.
Oh :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: Oh :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:!!! I tryed it and it's a big don't do. I clamped the pipe and pinched it all the way around and then cut the pipe and the gas just came flying out even though it was pinched. I tryed frantically to pinch it and stop it but I couldn't so I just bolted. Am I in big trouble?
blinky
06-11-2004, 06:04 PM
nothing is gonna happen to you, its just illegal so that big companies dont do it. if u dont tell your local EPA agency ull be fine
Yea, like Im just gonna waltz in and say "HEY!! I JUST LET A WHOLE COMPRESSOR FILLED WITH R12 IN TO THE ATMOSPHERE. BYE NOW!!" LOL :D
chilly1
06-11-2004, 06:46 PM
This is how whirlpool recovers their gas, after using the bag you take it to an appliance store for them to pump it into a container.. Make sure to label with the refrigerant type. "Maybe even attach it to your antenna as you drive to the appliance store."
EBAY Auction for a recovery bag (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=66999&item=3820739935&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW)
chilly1
06-11-2004, 06:57 PM
Until 1986 I used to dump all my gas into the atmosphere.
In 1974 a couple of scientests postulated the hole in the ozone layer over the south pole. Through study and testing they discovered that the refrigerant and propellents in everything from hair spray to underarm deoderant and the chlorinated refrigerants (CFC's and HCFC's) were causing it. We do not want to vent refrigerant we need to recover it always.
Gary Lloyd
06-11-2004, 09:22 PM
Sorry, but after all these years they have still not proven any of that. They discovered the existance of the ozone hole, but they don't know if it is new, or has been around from the beginning of time.
The theoretical bottom line worst case scenario was an increase in ground level UV, causing an increase in skin cancer. The ground level UV has not increased, so they keep pointing at the ozone hole as their "proof".
Personally, I think its about power and money.
chilly1
06-11-2004, 10:42 PM
Probably true but the reaction of chlorine in the upper atmosphere is a fact and the reaction of chlorine and ozone is also proven. It is just where the chlorine is comming from, we did not create it, I believe we contribute very little to the chlorine in the upper atmosphere or to any other global warming gasses, volcanos and other natural reactions in swmps ect. create a whole lot more to global warming and the desruction of ozone than the chemicals we release.. After all it is only the free radical chlorine atome that cause the problem, it takes a lot to break down CFC's they were originally used because of their inert nature.. I would like to see teh corelation of the size of the ozone hole with volcanic activity.
Redwolf
06-12-2004, 10:13 AM
Oh ya... they took away the Ozone depleting CFCs and gave us global warming HFCs.. Nice going.
In my experiance there are few people who recover/reclaim anything smaller than 10lbs. Reson why? Simple, we carry enough jugs of refrigerant as it is.. do not want to carry 7+ different recovery tanks too. Vans are only so big.
chilly1
06-17-2004, 04:29 AM
You are supposed to have a tech for each type of refrigerant, that is the new govt. "let's create more jobs" push. You get new laws that require more employees to administor.
Cows do more harm to the enviroment by contributing to global warming than do CFC's and HFC's but you don't see us reclaiming their gas. A Colorado State University animal nutrition professor named Donald Johnson has been studying cow flatulence for 20 years, and has determined that the average cow emits 200 to 400 quarts of methane gas PER DAY, resulting in a total annual world cow methane output of 50 million metric TONS!
Don't light a match around a cow and never allow a cow inside your sleeping bag!! LOL
Redwolf
06-17-2004, 11:15 AM
LOL.. But Chilly that would get Boring having to do only A/C, Coolers, or Freezers.
Or in the shower for that matter OCme. :)
I have a theory that the Magnetic Flux have been experiancing has something to do with it. Its been proven that the poles swap after so many thousand of years. The earth is way over due for it. When the poles begin to swap we get large pockets of N magnetic fields in the S and visa versa. Its been stated that before it accually happens some parts of the earth will have very high rates of skin cancer due to the higher amounts of UV radiation.