Bit of a lengthy one, more of an”article” I don’t know any other way, sometimes I just write essays😅😂 Just wanted to bring this up and see how others go about charging customers for Refrigerant. Does anyone actually take the time to go out and have their scale calibrated? There are few industries that can legally sell you an item based on weight and it’s why they can be completely transparent about it when selling to the consumer. Gas stations, transport truck weigh stations, metal scrappers, grocery stores to name a few. They are required to have their weighing instrumentation calibrated by Measurement Canada (here in Canada of course). So why are we not required to do so? What we are weighing in and selling is not a cheap commodity by any means. I know it may seem far sighted, but your work order can be used in a legal dispute if a customer had a discrepancy with how much they are being charged. You can legally only charge what you weigh in. But it can be argued, if this customer was aware, that you did not know how much Refrigerant was charged as our scales are never calibrated. So remember to CYA when writing that work order. I write a weighed amount on my ODP tags, with a carbon copy left at the unit and with customer. However, it is not up to me help the customer make sense of the tag, just a legal requirement that it is provided on my end to CYA when dealing with Refrigeration management/disposal authorities here in 🇨🇦. I choose a bit of word play when writing out a work order also. “Refrigerant charge added in accordance with manufacturers specified charging instructions” or “recovered system charge in preparation for decommissioning”. Now I have never been in a legal situation but have had customers dispute the price of Refrigerant and amounts before (R22 ain’t cheap anymore ladies and gents) But maybe Mechanics working on systems with 100+lbs of refrigerant see this a little more often? Sometimes it is escalated beyond us to the office and we may not hear about it. But I am sure it can’t be an easy pill to swallow for a customer when they see the bill on a leak repair. Like I said, it can be far sighted, but has anyone ever put any thought to this themselves? With eventually phasing out of many refrigerants currently used at the moment, I anticipate a large spike in the industry post 2030. Lots of recovery and replacement drop ins I would imagine to remain compliant with Refrigerant laws going forward, equalling lots of work to come🤙 . #askquestions #createconversation #hvac #refrigeration #foodforthought

Posted by hvacr_mech_life at 2021-02-20 18:36:18 UTC