The evacuation table splits several of its rows into a column for equipment built before November 15, 1993 and a column for equipment built on or after that date. Which piece of equipment's build date decides which column a technician reads?
- AThe date the appliance being serviced was manufactured
This reverses the rule. The appliance's own age has no bearing on the required level; only its refrigerant and its normal charge place it on a row.
- BThe date the appliance was last charged with refrigerant
When an appliance was last charged says nothing about which standard applies. No line of the evacuation table turns on service history.
- The date the recovery or recycling equipment was manufactured
- DThe date the technician's certification was originally issued
Certification date affects nothing about evacuation levels. A technician certified last month and one certified in 1994 read the same table the same way.
Why C is correct
The two columns exist because equipment standards changed. Recovery and recycling equipment manufactured on or after November 15, 1993 had to be certified against a tougher standard, and the evacuation table asks those machines to reach deeper levels. The technician therefore looks at the date plate on the recovery machine to choose the column, and at the appliance only to choose the row.
What this question is testing
This tests a conceptual point that governs every numeric question on the table. A candidate who can recall all six figures but attaches the date split to the wrong piece of equipment will answer half the large-appliance questions incorrectly.
On the job
Shops commonly own machines of several vintages, and the one that goes on the truck is often whichever is charged and free. Before the hoses go on, the technician should read the date plate on the machine and then decide the target, because the same chiller can legally be left at four inches with one machine and must go to ten with another. Rental machines make this worse, since the technician has no history with the unit and has to look.
Memory technique
The machine picks the column, the appliance picks the row. Two plates, two jobs.
Exam tip
Rows come from the appliance, columns come from the machine. Say it that way and the table stops being confusing.
Where to look it up
The November 15, 1993 split in the evacuation table refers to the build date of the recovery or recycling equipment.