Having just gotten my EPA 609 certification I thought why not get my own recovery / recycler and completely cut out the local mechanic. I checked ebay and saw prices in the thousands of dollars - way too much - and some were not even on the EPA approved list. Then I started googling for some particular EPA approved model numbers and happened across the DOD surplus auction service. Only problem was everything was condition coded "H" meaning beyond repair. After some more research I found that all R-12 related items are condition coded for beyond economic repair. The military used to have R-12 in Bradley fighting vehicles, etc, but since they no longer use it those service related items have for the most part excessed as they are beyond repair - meaning they can't use them. Here are the two I got:

http://cgi.govliquidation.com/auction/view?id=602426

http://cgi.govliquidation.com/auction/view?id=602427

These are $4,000 and $7,000 units respectively and I got them for $70 and $60!!! Granted it will take a little bit of refurbishing but these appear to be durable units and the company that made them is still in business with replacement parts / filters as needed.

Here is an unbelievable deal I passed on - too much overkill. For $45 dollars, some lucky guy got a $20,000 plus refrigerant reclaimer! Here is the link for it:

http://cgi.govliquidation.com/auction/view?auctionId=604482

Bottom line - this is all the result of an on-going buy versus contract (take our for service) analysis. I personally have two cars running on R-12 (poorly) and I have several family members in the immediate area that do as well, so why not make an investment for my own recovery recycling system. Plus if the 17800-2K unit ultimately works I'll have a recovery recycler capable of doing R-134a as well (the 17500 is not).

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