Why must a technician avoid putting two different refrigerants into the same recovery cylinder?

Recovery techniques · EPA 608 Core. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.

Keeping refrigerants unmixed and what affects recovery speed.

The question

Why must a technician avoid putting two different refrigerants into the same recovery cylinder?

• AThe recovery machine will be damaged and stop working for good
• BThe cylinder will weigh too much to ship
• CMixing always causes an explosion
• DThe mixture may not be reclaimable and may need destroyingCorrect answer

Why “The mixture may not be reclaimable and may need destroying” is correct

Reclaimers can restore one refrigerant to specification, but a mixture often cannot be separated. Mixed refrigerant may have to be destroyed, which is costly and wastes refrigerant. Use a separate, labeled cylinder for each refrigerant.

Source: EPA: Test Topics

Why the other answers are wrong

• The recovery machine will be damaged and stop working for good — Mixing contaminates the refrigerant; it does not necessarily ruin the machine.
• The cylinder will weigh too much to ship — Weight is not the reason; the problem is contamination.
• Mixing always causes an explosion — Mixing does not always cause an explosion; the issue is that the mix cannot be reclaimed.

Practice more of this

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