True or False: Required recovery for small (Type I) appliances is normally expressed as a percentage of the refrigerant charge recovered (90% with a working compressor, 80% without, using equipment made after November 1993), while larger high- and low-pressure appliances are held to the vacuum levels in the evacuation table.
Not quite. The answer is A: True
Small appliances are held to a percentage-recovered standard (the rule also lets a technician instead evacuate to 4 inches of mercury vacuum), while Type II and Type III appliances must be evacuated to the vacuum levels in Table 1 of § 82.156. Mixing these approaches up — expecting a percentage on a chiller, or a fixed vacuum reading as the only standard for a refrigerator — is a common and avoidable error.
Reference: 40 CFR Part 82 § 82.156(b) (Required recovery for small appliances)
Checked against the official text
Read the eCFR text current through 2026-10-30 of § 82.156. Small appliances: recover 90% (compressor working) or 80% (not working) with post-1993 equipment, 80% with older equipment, or evacuate to 4 in. Hg vacuum; other appliances use the Table 1 vacuum levels.