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How to Use the Refrigerant Recovery Calculator
Choose the refrigerant, then push-pull, liquid or vapour recovery. Enter the system charge from the nameplate and the share of it you expect to find as liquid.
Copy the vapour, liquid and push-pull recovery rates for your machine from its AHRI 740 rating or spec sheet. They can be in kilograms or pounds a minute.
Enter the water capacity stamped on the recovery cylinder and the refrigerant already in it, if any. The page works out the 80% fill limit from the liquid density.
Check the estimated time, the number of cylinders and the notes on the Canadian rules. Add the project details and use PDF, CSV, Copy or Print.
Refrigerant recovery: the rules, the rates and the cylinder limit
A recovery job comes down to three questions. What does the law require, how long will the machine take, and how many cylinders do you need on the truck? The calculator answers the last two from your own machine's rated speeds and your cylinder's water capacity, and the notes under the results answer the first for the refrigerant you chose.
What the Federal Halocarbon Regulations require
The Federal Halocarbon Regulations, 2022 make recovery the job of a certified person for air-conditioning and refrigeration systems (section 14). That person has to recover any halocarbon that would otherwise be released while installing or servicing a system (section 15), and all of it before the system is permanently withdrawn from use (section 16). The recovered refrigerant goes into a container designed to be refilled and to hold that specific halocarbon (section 6). The regulations name no recovery vacuum for these systems, and the duty in section 15 has no exemption by charge size. The one exemption, in section 16, covers a small operating system that moves to a new owner without any release. Records matter too: the activity log shows the quantity recovered in kilograms, and documents stay on site for five years (sections 23 and 26). R-290 is not a halocarbon, so these sections do not reach it by refrigerant type, but its flammability brings other requirements.
How the time estimate works
Recovery time is the liquid share of the charge divided by the machine's liquid or push-pull rate, plus the vapour share divided by its vapour rate, plus a setup allowance you set. In the R-410A Split System example, 4.5 kg is 90% liquid, so 4.05 kg moves at the push-pull rate of 7.02 kg/min in <1 min and the remaining 0.45 kg of vapour moves at 0.17 kg/min in 3 min. With 15 minutes allowed for hoses, purging, the final vacuum and weighing, the total is 18 min. The setup allowance is your own estimate, not a measured value, so change it to match how you work. The rates in the form start at the figures one manufacturer publishes for a mid-size machine on R-410A, 7.02 kg/min push-pull, 3.41 kg/min liquid and 0.17 kg/min vapour, and you should replace them with your machine's ratings for the refrigerant in the system.
What the rated speeds mean
The ratings come from AHRI Standard 740, which measures each rate as a weight change over time in kilograms a minute. The vapour rate is the average from saturated vapour at 24°C or the boiling point down to 10% of the starting pressure. The liquid rate is measured once the machine has settled at a stable condensing temperature, and the push-pull rate is measured while moving liquid equal to 80% of the cylinder's capacity by weight. The standard rates a machine against a test refrigerant for its pressure category, such as R-410A for the 1,851 to 2,448 kPa band, and a bench figure is a comparison tool rather than a promise for a field job with long hoses and a warm cylinder. Use the numbers to compare methods and size the job, and expect the real time to run longer.
Push-pull, liquid and vapour compared
Method matters far more than machine size on a charge that is mostly liquid. The R-410A example takes 18 min by push-pull, 19 min by liquid recovery and 41 min by vapour only, and most of that gap comes from the vapour rate being a fraction of the liquid rate. The same machine on 35 kg of R-404A with a 20 minute setup allowance takes 45 min by push-pull, 50 min by liquid and 3 h 46 min by vapour only. Push-pull needs access to the liquid side of the system, and whatever vapour remains must still be pulled at the slow rate. Even in the liquid method, the vapour step is 69% of the recovery time for 10% of the charge.
Cylinders and the 80% fill limit
A recovery cylinder is filled to no more than 80% of its volume, which the AHRI test also uses. The calculator converts that to a mass: 0.8 times the water capacity times the liquid specific gravity at 25°C. A cylinder with a 13.6 kg water capacity holds 11.52 kg of R-410A (specific gravity 1.059), 10.46 kg of R-32 and 5.36 kg of R-290, so one cylinder size does not fit every refrigerant. The R-404A example uses a cylinder with a 22.7 kg water capacity that already holds 8 kg. The fill limit is 18.96 kg, which leaves 10.96 kg of room, so 35 kg needs 3 cylinders: 10.96 kg in the partly full one, then 18.96 kg and 5.08 kg in two empty ones. Weigh the cylinder before you connect, and stop when the scale reaches the limit.
Records after the job
Write the quantity recovered, in kilograms, in the activity log for the system, with the date and the cylinder it went into. A system of more than 10 kg needs a log entry for each installation, service and withdrawal, and a system of 10 kg or less needs one for each service. The maintenance log calculator keeps those entries in one place so the weights line up with the top-ups and leaks you record later. The amount you recover also tells you something. If it is well below the nameplate charge, the system may have been low on refrigerant before you started.
What else applies in your province
Federal rules set the floor. Provinces certify the technicians, and codes such as CSA B52 add requirements for A2L and A3 refrigerants, including charge limits and machinery room rules. For a quick check of which rules apply to a given refrigerant and product, use the refrigerant regulation checker, and ask the supplier for the cylinder's test date and rating. Recovering R-32 or R-454B calls for equipment rated for A2L refrigerants, and R-290 calls for equipment rated for flammable refrigerants.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Federal Halocarbon Regulations, 2022 do not set a recovery vacuum for air-conditioning and refrigeration systems. They require a certified person to recover any halocarbon that would otherwise be released, and all of it before a system is permanently withdrawn from use. Only equipment that recovers halocarbon from fire-extinguishing systems has a stated transfer efficiency, at least 99%. A recovery machine's final vacuum is a measured rating under AHRI Standard 740, so use the figure on your machine's rating and follow your employer's procedure and any provincial or code requirement.
No more than 80% of its volume. The calculator turns that into a mass with the cylinder's water capacity and the liquid density of the refrigerant at 25°C. A cylinder with a 13.6 kg water capacity holds up to 11.52 kg of R-410A, 13.13 kg of R-134a or 5.36 kg of R-290, because the lighter the liquid, the less mass fits. Past 80% there is too little vapour space, and the liquid can expand with warmth and overpressure the cylinder.
It depends on the machine and the method. In the R-410A example, 4.5 kg with 90% of it as liquid and a 15 minute setup allowance takes 18 min by push-pull, 19 min by liquid recovery and 41 min by vapour only, using one published machine rating of 7.02, 3.41 and 0.17 kg/min. The vapour step is 82% of the push-pull recovery time for 10% of the charge. Enter your own machine's rated rates, because a machine's published rate is measured on a test bench and a field job is usually slower.
No. The Federal Halocarbon Regulations require halocarbon to be stored in a container designed and manufactured to be refilled and to hold that specific halocarbon. Keep one recovery cylinder for each refrigerant, label it, and never mix refrigerants in it. A cylinder holding a mixture cannot be reused as it is and may only be fit for destruction. Check the cylinder's test date and water capacity before you use it, and weigh it before and after the job.