What exactly is Recycled R12 freon?
 

Is it different than regular R12? Is allowed to be added to an A/C legally or is it just diposed of? How does a repair shop obtain recycled R12?

Any and all information would be greatly appreciated.

Recycled can mean more than one thing.

A repair shop can legally recycle the r-12 taken from one auto (including your auto), and use it on another.

Recycled can also mean that it was purchased from a 'central' reprocessing facility. These facilities have the special equipment that can recover contaminated r-12 from various sources.

There is very little 'virgin' r-12 left in the world, since production has ceased.

So what kind of costs would a repair shop incur by using the R12 from another auto and placing it in another??

Would the owner of the vehicle that the R12 was recalimed from have paid for the reclaim and "new" freon, therefore the recycled R12 would be at no cost to the repair shop??

Find yourself an old refrigerator and pull the old freon out and put it into your car...........:D
its been done....

I think the answer is that shops do not typically pay for the r-12 they recycle. There is some upfront capital expense on the part of the shop in purchasing reclaimation equipment.

Now that r-12 is like gold, an honorable technician might theoretically 'credit' you for the r-12 already in your system.

In reality, it is more common practice to charge you for the entire refill capacity.

r-134 conversions are a great deal for a shop. They get to keep your r-12, and charge you for the conversion! I would imagine that this is the primary source for 'onsite recycled' r-12.

The major sources of recycled R-12 are scrap yards. Recyclers would go around the country to find pre-R-134 scrapped cars.
In these case , they would pay the scrap yard owner a certain amount for each car they suck dry of R-12
Some re-cyclers would go the distance to clean and filter the old r-12 before reselling it. others will simply sell the stuff as is with all kinds of contaminants in it.
Buying re-cycled R-12 is somewhat like playing roulette. You are never assured of the quality of the product you are putting in your system. Serious shops would be safer than the backyard ''Joe Knows All" outfit
jackD

To recycle R12, it must be free of oil, moisture and Non Condensable Gas (NCG.) Most shops have a machine that will filter the oil and moisture, and they invert the container for 12 hours, or something like that, before checking for NCG.

There are also firms such as www.refrigerantsales.com that buy recovered R12, clean it, and resell it.

Some good points were made in this thread such as the shop recovering R12 when doing a conversion. There are also shady shops that basically withdraw the freon (steal it) then charge for either a conversion or a recharge (with at least some of the R12 they are selling you being what was yours to begin with.

To answer the original question, it is indeed legal and, if properly recycled, is quite alright.

Have a great day,

Thank you gentlemen. I was trying to find out more about it to determine whether it was appropriate for my stepfather to charge me for the recycled R12 he put in my car that I never asked for.

He indicated that it did have contaminants in it. So I'm thinking it was entirely inappropriate for him to charge me for this especially since I never asked for it.

Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge.