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Recovery Equipment & Cylinders — EPA 608 Practice Questions

20 questions · 17% of the Core exam

Worked questions

1. Before buying a new recovery machine, a shop owner wants proof that the unit satisfies EPA requirements. What documentation should the owner look for?

  • AA statement from the distributor confirming the machine is new stock

    Whether a machine is new stock says nothing about whether the model was ever tested against the EPA performance standard.

  • BA Department of Transportation stamp showing the machine passed a hydrostatic test

    Hydrostatic testing and this stamp apply to pressure cylinders, not to recovery machines. Different equipment, different requirement. Confusing a cylinder qualification with an equipment certification is the trap built into this answer.

  • CA label showing the machine was manufactured in the United States

    Country of manufacture has no bearing on EPA equipment certification. Certified models appearing on an approved testing organization's list are built in many countries around the world.

  • Certification of the model by an EPA-approved equipment testing organization

Why D is correct

EPA does not test equipment itself. It approves independent testing organizations, and those organizations verify that a given model meets the required recovery performance standard and then list it as certified. Buying a listed model is how a shop demonstrates it is using certified equipment, which is a requirement for technicians performing recovery.

What this question is testing

The item tests where equipment certification authority actually sits, that EPA approves the testing organizations rather than testing machines itself, and your ability to reject cylinder and manufacturing distractors. The practical point being tested is that a technician must use certified equipment, and the certified model listing is the proof of it.

On the job

This matters most when a shop buys used equipment or picks up a bargain machine online. An older unit may predate the certification requirement or may simply never have been listed, and using it puts the technician in violation even though the machine physically works. Checking that the model appears on a testing organization's certified list before money changes hands takes a few minutes and avoids buying a machine that cannot legally be put on a truck.

Memory technique

40 CFR Part 82, Subpart F

Exam tip

Recovery equipment must be certified by an EPA-approved equipment testing organization, and technicians must use certified equipment.

Where to look it up

EPA approves the testers, and the testers certify the machines. Look for the listing, not the sticker on the box.

2. Partway through a recovery job a technician discovers the cylinder in use already contains refrigerant of a different type from an earlier job. What is the consequence of that mixed cylinder?

  • The mixture cannot be reclaimed and normally has to be sent out for destruction at the owner's expense
  • BThe mixture can be reclaimed as long as both refrigerants in it were HCFCs recovered that day

    Sharing a chemical family does not make two refrigerants separable. Reclaimers reject a mixed cylinder whatever it holds and whenever the second refrigerant went in, because separation is not a process they run.

  • CThe mixture can be recycled on site and returned to either system it came from once it is filtered

    Recycling equipment removes oil, moisture, and acid. Passing a mixture through a filter-drier does not pull one refrigerant out of another, so filtering does not rescue a mixed cylinder.

  • DThe mixture is acceptable as long as the cylinder is kept below eighty percent full, which is the only limit that applies

    The fill limit is a pressure safety rule for the cylinder and says nothing about what is inside it. A correctly filled cylinder holding two refrigerants is still a disposal item.

Why A is correct

Separating a blend of different refrigerants is not practical at a reclamation facility, so once refrigerants are mixed in a cylinder the batch is off the table for reclamation. The remaining route is destruction, which the owner pays for by weight. That expense is why dedicated, clearly tagged recovery cylinders are standard practice.

What this question is testing

This is an applied consequences item. It tests that you know reclamation cannot separate refrigerants, that recycling cannot either, and that the fill limit is an unrelated rule, which requires holding three separate concepts straight. Only one of the four choices describes an outcome that actually happens in practice.

On the job

Every shop that has been around a while has a mixed cylinder in the corner that nobody wants to pay to get rid of. It usually happens exactly as described, a partly used cylinder grabbed off the truck in a hurry with no tag on it. The fix costs nothing: label the cylinder the moment the first refrigerant goes in, and keep a separate cylinder for each refrigerant you commonly handle. Charging a customer for destruction of refrigerant you mixed is a conversation worth avoiding.

Memory technique

40 CFR Part 82, Subpart F

Exam tip

Mixed refrigerants cannot be reclaimed and end up destroyed at cost. One refrigerant per cylinder, always tagged.

Where to look it up

Mix it and you buy it. A tagged cylinder is cheaper than a destruction invoice.

3. The collar of a refillable recovery cylinder is stamped with a tare weight. What does that stamped figure tell the technician?

  • AThe highest pressure the cylinder may be exposed to while it is being filled, marked in pounds for convenience

    Cylinders do carry a service pressure marking, but it is stamped separately and expressed in psi rather than pounds of weight. Reading the tare stamp as a pressure limit mixes up two different markings on the same collar.

  • BThe total weight of the cylinder once it holds its full rated charge, which is the figure the scale should read when filling stops

    Tare is the empty weight, not the loaded weight. A technician filling until the scale reached the tare figure would stop before any refrigerant went in, and one treating a full cylinder as tare would badly overfill it.

  • CThe number of pounds of refrigerant the cylinder is permitted to hold before the fill limit is reached

    The permitted quantity comes from the rated capacity and the fill limit, not from the tare stamp. Tare accounts only for the steel and the valve, so using it as a capacity figure ignores the eighty percent rule.

  • The weight of the empty cylinder with its valve, which is subtracted from the scale reading to find the refrigerant weight

Why D is correct

Tare weight is the empty weight of the cylinder and valve. Gross weight on the scale minus tare weight equals net refrigerant weight, and net weight is the figure compared against the cylinder rated capacity when deciding whether it is safe to keep filling.

What this question is testing

This item checks whether the candidate can read basic cylinder stampings and understands the arithmetic relationship between gross weight, tare weight, and net refrigerant weight.

On the job

Cylinders vary in empty weight by several pounds depending on size and manufacturer, so a shop cannot assume one number for the whole rack. Techs who work off gross weight alone eventually overfill a heavy cylinder or stop far short on a light one. Reading tare off the collar takes seconds and turns the scale into a real measurement. Reclaimers also use tare to verify how much recovered product actually arrived.

Memory technique

Tare rhymes with bare: the bare cylinder with nothing in it.

Exam tip

Tare equals empty. If an answer describes a full or loaded weight, it is the wrong stamping.

Where to look it up

Tare weight is stamped on the collar and equals the empty cylinder plus valve; gross minus tare equals refrigerant weight.

4. A cylinder holding refrigerant recovered during the day is going back to the shop where other people will handle it. Beyond being a proper recovery cylinder, what marking does it need?

  • AA tag showing the customer name and the address of the job the refrigerant came from that day

    Customer and job details belong in the service records. They tell the next handler nothing about what is under pressure inside the cylinder or how it has to be handled safely.

  • BA stencil showing the date the cylinder body was last repainted at the shop

    Paint history has no bearing on how a cylinder is handled. The dates that matter on a cylinder collar are the manufacture and retest dates, not when the shell was last painted.

  • A label identifying which refrigerant is inside and stating that the contents are recovered refrigerant
  • DA sticker showing the vacuum level the appliance was pumped down to before the hoses came off for the day

    Evacuation level describes what happened to the appliance, not what is inside the cylinder. It gives the next person handling that cylinder nothing useful to work with.

Why C is correct

The label has to identify the refrigerant inside and make clear the contents are recovered. That is what the next handler, the storage rack, and the reclaimer all need in order to keep the product segregated and processed correctly.

What this question is testing

This item checks whether the candidate knows what information a recovery cylinder must carry for safe downstream handling, and can distinguish cylinder identification from service documentation.

On the job

A shop rack full of unlabeled cylinders is a slow motion problem. Someone eventually adds a different refrigerant to one, and a whole cylinder becomes waste. Reclaimers reject or surcharge shipments that arrive unidentified, and the shop pays for it. The habit that prevents all of it is cheap: write the refrigerant on the label as soon as the first ounce goes in, before the cylinder ever leaves the job site.

Memory technique

Label the cylinder for the next set of hands, not for the paperwork.

Exam tip

Label answers that describe the job rather than the contents are distractors. The label is about what is inside the steel.

Where to look it up

Recovery cylinders must be labeled with the refrigerant they contain and identified as recovered refrigerant.

5. The collar of a shop recovery cylinder shows a test date many years in the past with no newer date stamped after it. How should that cylinder be handled going forward?

  • Take it out of service until a qualified facility hydrostatically retests it and stamps a current date
  • BKeep using it, since test dates apply only to cylinders carrying virgin refrigerant from a manufacturer

    Retest requirements attach to refillable cylinders regardless of whether the contents are virgin or recovered. A recovery cylinder is a pressure vessel under exactly the same rules.

  • CKeep using it as long as it still holds pressure with no audible leak

    Holding pressure at ambient temperature is not a strength test. Internal corrosion and wall thinning are invisible from outside and only show up under a controlled hydrostatic test.

  • DGrind off the outdated stamp and mark the current date so the collar reads correctly

    Restamping a date the cylinder never earned is falsifying a safety record. It puts everyone who later handles that cylinder at risk and creates serious liability.

Why A is correct

Refillable cylinders require periodic hydrostatic retesting by a qualified facility, and the passing date is stamped on the collar. A cylinder whose stamped date has lapsed is out of service for filling or transport until it is retested and re-stamped.

What this question is testing

This item checks whether the candidate knows recovery cylinders are regulated pressure vessels with periodic retest obligations, and rejects both the leak test shortcut and the falsified stamp.

On the job

Shop racks collect old cylinders, and nobody notices the dates until a supplier or reclaimer refuses one. Some suppliers will not exchange or fill a lapsed cylinder at all, which is often the first time a shop discovers half its inventory is out of date. Building a yearly walk of the rack, reading collars and setting aside the lapsed ones, keeps the problem small and predictable instead of showing up mid job.

Memory technique

No current stamp, no fill. The collar is the cylinder license.

Exam tip

Do not get pulled into arguing about the interval. The tested idea is that periodic retesting is required and a lapsed cylinder comes out of service.

Where to look it up

Refillable recovery cylinders require periodic hydrostatic retest with the passing date stamped on the collar.

6. A shop wants its recovery machines to keep pulling refrigerant at full speed and to stay leak tight between jobs. What routine care actually supports those goals?

  • AStoring each machine with its hoses uncapped so any trapped refrigerant can work its way out between jobs

    Uncapped hoses let trapped refrigerant escape, which is a release, and they draw moist air into the machine for the next job. Hoses are capped precisely to prevent both.

  • BRunning each machine dry for an hour every week to drive off any moisture inside it in the shop

    Running a recovery compressor with no refrigerant to cool and lubricate it shortens its life. Moisture is handled by filter driers and proper evacuation, not by running the machine dry.

  • CReplacing the machine oil with automotive engine oil, which stands up to heat better in summer

    Recovery machines use the lubricant the manufacturer specifies for compatibility with the refrigerants handled. Automotive engine oil is the wrong chemistry whatever the season, and it attacks the seals and the compressor it is poured into.

  • Changing filter driers on the manufacturer schedule and checking hoses, fittings and gaskets for leaks

Why D is correct

Filter driers restrict as they load up and slow recovery noticeably, while worn hoses, couplers, and gaskets leak refrigerant and admit air. Changing driers on schedule and inspecting connections keeps recovery rate up and keeps the machine from releasing refrigerant between jobs.

What this question is testing

This item checks whether the candidate can identify real preventive maintenance for recovery equipment and reject practices that would release refrigerant, admit moisture, or damage the compressor.

On the job

The most common complaint about a recovery machine is that it got slow. Nine times out of ten it is a loaded filter drier, a tired coupler, or a hose gasket that no longer seals. Techs blame the machine and shops buy new ones when a drier and a set of gaskets would have restored it. A dated maintenance sticker on each machine turns this from a guessing game into a schedule.

Memory technique

Driers and connections: one keeps flow up, the other keeps refrigerant in.

Exam tip

Maintenance answers that involve open hoses or running equipment dry are always distractors. Look for filter driers and leak inspection.

Where to look it up

Keep recovery equipment maintained and leak free; change filter driers on schedule and inspect hoses and fittings.

14 more in the bank

Answers and explanations for these are in the app.

  • A recovery cylinder is being filled while sitting on a scale during a walk-in freezer job. What is the maximum percentage of the cylinder's rated capacity that may be filled with liquid refrigerant?
  • A cylinder on the shop rack has a gray body with a yellow top and carries a Department of Transportation stamp on the collar. What is that cylinder intended to hold?
  • An empty one-trip disposable cylinder that originally shipped virgin refrigerant is sitting in the shop. Why may a technician not fill it with refrigerant recovered from a customer system?
  • A recovery cylinder is filled with liquid refrigerant well past its rated fill limit and then left in a closed truck in the sun. What makes that combination dangerous?
  • During a recovery job a technician needs a dependable way to tell when the cylinder has taken on as much refrigerant as it is allowed to hold. Which method gives that information?
  • A recovery machine shuts itself down partway through a job even though the appliance still holds refrigerant, and the cylinder sitting on the scale is close to its rated limit. What most likely stopped the machine?
  • The next call is a recovery on an R-134a system, but the only recovery cylinder on the truck is already part full of recovered R-22. What is the right move before starting work?
  • A brand new recovery cylinder arrives from the supply house with a nitrogen holding charge still inside it. What should the technician do before recovering refrigerant into that cylinder?
  • A cylinder of recovered refrigerant sitting at shop temperature shows noticeably higher pressure than the saturation pressure that refrigerant should have at that temperature. What does the reading point to?
  • Several cylinders of recovered refrigerant are waiting in the shop for the reclaimer to collect them. How should those cylinders be kept while they sit?
  • Cylinders of recovered refrigerant have to ride in the service truck across town to a reclaimer drop-off point. What does safe transport of those cylinders require?
  • A supply house salesman describes one of the recovery machines on the counter as self-contained equipment. What does that term say about how the unit works?
  • A technician owns only system-dependent recovery equipment and is asked to recover refrigerant from a rooftop unit holding roughly forty pounds of charge. Why is that equipment the wrong choice here?
  • Before putting a recovery cylinder into service a technician looks the whole cylinder over. Which finding means the cylinder has to be pulled from service instead of filled?

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