There are, and that’s the way the average joe is supposed to do one of these. Technically speaking you can’t even hook up a refrigerant manifold to a system legally without an EPA 608 cert (assuming you’re in the US). Of course the EPA doesn’t exactly have the funding or support to enforce anything right now. Even if they did, they have far bigger fish to fry than a homeowner doing their own HVAC work.
Of course, if you do want to work with refrigerants more then an EPA 608 cert is prettyeasy to get. It’s a lifetime cert and I was able to get it with a week of self study and an online test. 608 type 2 is what you need for most HVAC but really it’s not that much harder to just get the universal cert.
Most refrigeration components just come with a slight nitrogen charge to keep them dry. If you’re buying a whole condensing unit it’ll often come with a refrigerant charge in the condensing unit. With heatpumps in particular though you can buy lines and components precharged with refrigerant so you can install them without an EPA certification.
That’s pre-charged bud. Otherwise there wouldn’t be refrigerant included
Oh, I thought there were ones with pre-charged lines and everything, where you could just hook it up and go.
There are, and that’s the way the average joe is supposed to do one of these. Technically speaking you can’t even hook up a refrigerant manifold to a system legally without an EPA 608 cert (assuming you’re in the US). Of course the EPA doesn’t exactly have the funding or support to enforce anything right now. Even if they did, they have far bigger fish to fry than a homeowner doing their own HVAC work.
Of course, if you do want to work with refrigerants more then an EPA 608 cert is prettyeasy to get. It’s a lifetime cert and I was able to get it with a week of self study and an online test. 608 type 2 is what you need for most HVAC but really it’s not that much harder to just get the universal cert.
Some come with lines that are vacuumed or something out of the box. Aren’t most compressors pre charged?
Most refrigeration components just come with a slight nitrogen charge to keep them dry. If you’re buying a whole condensing unit it’ll often come with a refrigerant charge in the condensing unit. With heatpumps in particular though you can buy lines and components precharged with refrigerant so you can install them without an EPA certification.