Under the venting prohibition, before opening, servicing, or disposing equipment that contains refrigerant, what must you do?

• A. Vent refrigerant into the atmosphere
• B. Recover the affected refrigerant
• C. Seal the equipment and continue
• D. Notify the EPA only

Answer: (B)

You must recover the refrigerant before doing any work on or disposing of equipment that contains it. This is because releasing refrigerant into the atmosphere is illegal and harmful to the environment, so the proper procedure is to remove the refrigerant using approved recovery equipment and store it in an appropriate container before opening or servicing the unit. This protects the ozone layer and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

Venting refrigerant directly into the atmosphere is not allowed, so that option isn’t appropriate. Simply sealing the unit and continuing would hide the refrigerant rather than removing it, which still risks release. Merely notifying the EPA doesn’t actually prevent or control the release, so that option doesn’t meet the required safety and regulatory steps.