How To Recycle Your Old AC Unit

After a long relationship, you’ve finally gotten a new AC unit. How exciting! You may be wondering though, how do I handle my old AC unit? Your first thought may be to just dump it with your other trash, but it’s actually illegal to do so. If you’re caught doing it, you will be fined. So how do you handle it? No worries, we’ve got you covered below. 

Why Is It Illegal?

Throwing your AC unit away doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it’s obviously a big enough deal to be illegal. The reason is that your AC unit contains a cooling refrigerant that is harmful to the environment. There are two types of refrigerants, the R-22, usually found in older units, and the R-410A, usually found in newer models. Both refrigerants pose a risk of depleting the ozone over time. 

How To Recycle An AC Unit

To recycle your AC unit, you’ll first need all of the refrigerants mentioned above removed. It’s important that you do not attempt to do this yourself. Contact a trained EPA technician to do so. Before the unit is disposed of, the EPA technician will have to recover the refrigerant from the system. Scrap yards will typically help with this process.

How To Donate Or Sell Your AC Unit

If you don’t want to recycle your AC unit, you can always donate it. You can arrange the donation yourself to any facility you like, but always be sure to offer resources to the facility of choice on how to have the unit installed. If you don’t have a specific place in mind that would benefit, you can always donate your unit to an appliance drive. If you’d like to make a quick buck, create an online listing to find interested buyers. Just keep in mind that you can’t sell any AC units manufactured prior to 2010.