How Refrigerant Buyback Programs Help Contractors Manage the AIM Act Transition

Q: What types of refrigerant can I sell?

Most refrigerant buyback companies will purchase R-22, R-410A, R-134a, R-404A, R-407C, and many other refrigerant gases. We also accept mixed and contaminated refrigerant that most companies reject as unusable, because we have developed the technology to separate the usable refrigerant from the rest of the mixture. If you're not sure what gas is in your cylinders, call us, and we'll figure it out together.

Q: What determines the buyback price I’ll get?

There are four main factors: refrigerant gas type, with R-22 currently receiving the highest price because of its scarcity. The purity of the gas, where higher purity means a higher price, though even contaminated gas still has value. The volume, since larger quantities yield a better rate per pound. And current market conditions, where AIM Act limits on new production have been driving prices for recovered gas upward across the board.

Q: Should I sell to a reclaimer or go through a broker?

Selling directly to an EPA-certified reclaimer typically pays more per pound because there's no broker margin sitting in the middle of the transaction. Most certified reclaimers also pay faster than brokers. American Refrigerants pays most customers within 30 days or less of receiving and testing the gas, compared to the 30 to 90 days you would typically wait with a broker, and certified reclaimers are also more likely to accept contaminated and mixed gases that brokers rarely or never take.

Q: How fast does American Refrigerants actually pay?

Most payments go out within 30 days or less after we receive and test your cylinders. The industry average is 30 to 90 days. When we founded American Refrigerants, we made a deliberate decision to provide fast payment to contractors so that money could go back into running their shops as quickly as possible.

If you are an HVAC contractor with recovery cylinders in the back of your shop holding R-22, R-410A, R-134a, or a mixed blend that’s been sitting there for months, you have cash in those cylinders that you have not collected yet.

Most contractors don’t realize that their recovered gas can be sold for real money, or if they tried to sell it, they went through a third party once, waited three months for payment, and decided it simply was not worth their time.

This is where refrigerant buyback programs come in. A certified reclaimer will purchase your recovered gas, process it to AHRI 700 specifications, the same specification as new product, verified through independent lab testing, and put it back into the supply chain. Finally, you’ll receive payment for your recovered gas, the refrigerant stays in circulation rather than collecting dust, and the entire system works better for everyone involved.

As AIM Act production cutbacks continue to create shortages in HFCs and push the price of R-410A higher each quarter, recovered refrigerant is worth more today than it was six months ago, and that trend does not appear to be reversing itself as we get closer to the 2029 and 2034 allocation decreases.

What actually happens when you sell recovered refrigerant to a reclaimer

You tell us what you’ve got

Call us, e-mail us, or use the contact form found on our website. Let us know what type of refrigerant you are selling, the quantity of gas you are selling, and if the gas is pure, a mixture, contaminated, or if you are unsure. Many reclaimers will give you a pre-quote or at least a realistic price range on your first call. American Refrigerants has a team to answer all incoming calls during regular business hours and go over the entire process with you in less than five minutes.

You ship or we pick it up

For those contractors located outside of Southwest Florida, we’ll provide free shipping labels and manage all of the freight logistics on qualifying volumes, so you won’t be charged extra to ship your gas to us.

We also operate weekly pickup routes throughout Sarasota, Manatee, Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Charlotte counties. This means you won’t need to physically load your truck and travel to drop off your cylinders. We will pick them up.

We test and verify everything in-house

Once your cylinders arrive, we weigh and test the contents to determine the purity level and the gas composition of the contents. These tests are what will ultimately determine the final price you will be paid per pound. If the refrigerant is mixed, we won’t turn down your gas because we have the separation technology necessary to separate these gases and remove the usable components from the unusable, which is something many buyers in the market today simply cannot do because they have not invested in the necessary equipment.

You get paid, and you get paid fast

One of the primary reasons to sell your refrigerant to an EPA-certified reclaiming company is that you will receive payment quickly. Industry standards for buying back used refrigerant vary, but typically fall into a 45 to 90-day time frame. Some brokers may take longer, but American Refrigerants’ policy is to make timely payment to all contractors who recycle their refrigerant.

We’ll process most payments 30 days or less after receiving and testing your cylinders. We made fast payment a priority because we’ve personally experienced long payment delays in our own business dealings and understand how hard it is to keep cash flow positive when you’re running a shop.

Four factors that determine how much your recovered refrigerant is worth

Buyback prices aren’t uniform, and understanding what drives them will help you make better decisions about when and how to sell.

Gas type matters most

R-22 commands the highest buyback prices for a couple of reasons. It has not been manufactured in the United States since 2020, so every pound of R-22 in existence today is either reclaimed or part of old stock, which makes it genuinely rare. R-134a, R-404A, and R-407C all carry strong value and may command higher or lower prices depending on where the market sits. R-410A comes next in terms of demand because AIM Act production restrictions have been tightening the available supply every year. Changed order – R-134a and R-404A actually often command higher values than R-410A (typically, but not always) CFC and HCFC gases like R-11 and R-123 have very high residual value depending on their condition.

Purity level affects your per-pound rate

Pure, uncontaminated refrigerant will always command the best price per pound, but contaminated or mixed gas isn’t worthless, and a lot of contractors are losing money every single day because they assume it is. A reclaimer with the ability to separate different types of gases can process mixed cylinders that most buyers won’t touch. You will get a lower rate on contaminated gas than you would on pure product, but receiving something is a lot better than letting it sit in the corner of your shop and lose value over time.

Larger quantities get better pricing

Volume matters, and larger quantities generally earn better per-pound rates simply because the logistics cost per pound is less expensive. That being said, we are willing to discuss and negotiate with contractors who have smaller volumes of refrigerant and don’t want to wait until they can accumulate enough to meet our minimums. We believe that if you have gas to sell, it’s worth having a discussion.

Market conditions are working in your favor right now

As with anything that is subject to supply, demand, regulation, and seasonal fluctuations, the price of refrigerant will vary. Right now, with the AIM Act production reductions that are decreasing the available supply, the value of recovered refrigerant is greater than it was a few years ago. It is anticipated that this trend will continue as the 2029 reduction (40% of baseline) and 2034 reduction (20% of baseline) approach

How selling to a direct reclaimer compares to middlemen and supply house trade-ins

	Direct Reclaimer	Middleman / Broker	Supply House Trade-In
Who you're dealing with	EPA-certified facility that actually processes the gas	Third party who buys from you and resells to a reclaimer	Counter staff at your local supply house
Payment speed	30 days or less typical	45–90 days is common	Store credit only (no cash)
Price per pound	Highest (no middleman cut)	Lower (broker takes a margin)	Lowest (store sets the rate)
Accepts mixed/contaminated gas	Yes (if reclaimer has separation tech)	Rarely sometimes a fee is included	No
Documentation provided	Full handling sheets, AHRI 700 purity certs	Varies widely	Receipt only
Minimum quantity	Typically 30–200 lbs depending on type	Varies	Any amount (low payout)

Simple math illustrates this point: a contractor who recovers 50-100 pounds of gas per month would likely make an additional $500-$1,000 every three months compared to going through a middleman, and that’s before you factor in the wholesale pricing you get on your purchases when you’re working with the same reclaimer in both directions.

Why expedited payment changes everything for contractors running service calls

Payment speed sounds like a small thing until you’re the contractor who’s been waiting on a check that was supposed to arrive six weeks ago.

Cash flow keeps your shop running, and slow payments break the cycle

Contractors run their businesses with very tight cash flow cycles that include buying parts, paying technicians, fueling trucks, and invoicing customers, which sometimes can take 30 days to pay for themselves. When you add a 60 to 90-day wait period for a refrigerant buyback check in addition to all of those things, you disrupt your entire business cash flow pattern.

When we make our payment in 30 days or less, that money is available for your next supply order, your next payroll, as needed by your business during that week, and this creates the feeling that selling recovered gas is a normal aspect of doing business rather than an afterthought that you’ll get to eventually.

Bad experiences with corporate buyers keep contractors from selling at all

Many contractors have a story about a big business who said they would pay quickly and then held onto the check for months. These experiences have made many people skeptical of the idea of selling recovered gas, so the cylinders collect in the shop, and the money remains unrecovered year after year. Working with a certified reclaimer that will process your payment within 30 days, consistently, every single time, is what it takes to rebuild that trust.

Common questions about refrigerant buyback programs

These are the questions that come up in almost every first conversation we have with contractors who are thinking about selling their recovered refrigerant.

How does a refrigerant buyback program work?

First, you need to find an EPA-certified reclamation company and let them know what gas you have and approximately how much. They’ll either send you a prepaid shipping label for qualifying volumes or arrange a local pickup. The reclaimer then weighs and analyzes the gas for purity and composition and gives you a quote based on weight for each gas. Once the analysis is complete, payment is issued. At American Refrigerants, payments go out to customers within 30 days of receiving and analyzing the refrigerant.

What types of refrigerant can I sell?

Almost all CFCs, HCFCs and HFCs, even if they are mixed with other refrigerants. The only refrigerants we do not buy are new refrigerant blends still protected by patents, such as R-454B.

What determines the buyback price I’ll get?

Typically larger volumes, higher purity and refrigerant scarcity all contribute to higher prices. However, common refrigerants such as R-410A in volumes of under 50 pounds still yield good value for sellers.

Should I sell to a reclaimer or go through a broker?

You will get the highest value, and the best customer service, when you work directly with an EPA-certified refrigerant reclaimer, such as American Refrigerants.

How fast does American Refrigerants actually pay?

We pay in 30 days or less.

Ready to turn those recovery cylinders into cash?

Do you have recovered refrigerant in your shop? Whether it is pure R-410A, legacy R-22, contaminated blends, or even mixed gas that you’re honestly not sure about, we’ll buy it, and we’ll pay you for the refrigerant within 30 days. Also, we accept the stuff that other buyers refuse, and we’ll take care of all shipping logistics, so you don’t have to.

Call us today at (941) 371-0300. A real person answers the phone during business hours.

You can also email info@ameri-ref.com or fill out the buyback form on our website. Either way, we’ll get you a quote and get you paid.