Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Our council roadside rubbish collection was a couple of weeks ago.
I picked up two old fridges with the intent of using them as grow beds.

I was wondering if any one was in the know how to discharge the gas safely when I strip them down. Heres a couple of pics of some data on back if its of any help.

you will need to hook the line up to a bottle , or call in a fridge guy , or oopps with the screwdriver ..

Ok, for the record you'd be breaking at least one commonwealth law with a penalty of around 10K unless you got someone with an ARC licence to reclaim the refrigerant.

various methods that i have heard of of performing this illegal act are;

putting an axe though the condenser (tubes on the back)

getting some pliers or a hack saw and cutting that copper pipe to the left hand side

people who usually do this wear safety glasses and turn their head

great idea, thanks guys

gee, that would be a cruisy day for me...............gimme 30 fridges to de-commission

Watch out because the refrigerent is under pressure. And do it outside as the gas will take the o2 out of the room. If they are fan forced units you should be able to get rid of all the copper pipes.

227 grams isnt a huge amount, but also be aware that it may reach -27C (at atmospheric pressure)

I know we have laws on degassing fridges but it dosn't seem to be the case that any one cares.

At Four of the local tips around here they just get thrown in with the rest of the scrap and when the dozer gets them to they get de gassed.

The Australian Refrigeration Council has been making big moves in he last few years. Trust me, people will care soon enough.

let the stats talk for themselves (damn threw the news letter away!) something like 100 tonne of reclaimed refrigerant was returned for destruction a couple of years ago. last year the total was more like 450 tonne...........

i know of atleast 2 people personally that have been in the trade and are middleaged and had to go back and actually sit through an apprenticeship so that they could obtain the refrigerant handling licence. All of the suppliers databases are updated nightly with peoples details and it is physically impossible (via the system) for them to raise an order to an unlicenced person.

"Buy me a few kgs" was going on for a while but last quarter the first trading licence was cancelled for "non compliance" and i bet ya it was for the former.

So, once they've finished cleaning up the workers in the industry i have no doubt that they will concentrate on things like the fridges

hell, i can even pump a system down unless its going to be re-installed on the same site within a short period (days i think), gotta reclaim instead.

The law works well i think, 10K for an hour short cut makes you think long and hard..........

Down side is that when they DO start enforcing the fridge thing, expect to pay for dumping as they're going to have to pay someone to de-commission.

Thanks for the info guys.

On closer inspection it seems hey may have been degassed in transit

What does it cost for a fridgee to do it Steve?

Leon

dunno noely.

unless you've got a mate or a local who's willing to work for a few beers its probably not worth it. If some one rang up the company i worked for they'd get charged $121 (call out + 1/2 hr)

woudn't it be a pisser if you call somebody out to do it and they attacked it with a set of pliers ROFL

A nice fridgee might do it for free (my dad used to do it, they don't mind too much usually) but you'd have to get them to the guy.

Course... it probably helps if you have boobs?

Can I borrow yours for awhile?

Leon

By the looks of those kiddies playing in fridges in your pics... you probably have a pair hanging around the house somewhere... if you're still having trouble finding some... look behind the crossed arms of the woman with a frown reading over your shoulder.

i think offering your wifes boobs as a trade for the reclaim of 227grams of R-12 would cross that very hazy aquaponics line ROFL