When, according to the invention, the air in the so-called Zone 2 areas is ventilated, i.e. sucked out, the ATEX Directive concerning treatment of inflammable coolants may be satisfied in an effective manner. In practice, the suction around the engine (6) of the vehicle and the ventilation of the service equipment (9, 21, 53), respectively, may ensure that the requirements in the ATEX Directive with respect to Zone 2 areas may be satisfied, if possibly inflammable vapors are discharged, since these areas are ventilated to the atmosphere. The use of the method is service-friendly when servicing air conditioning systems and when adding coolant online.

A refrigerant service system according to the disclosure includes an inlet port configured to connect to an air conditioning system, a recovery valve fluidly connected to the inlet port, an accumulator fluidly connected to the recovery solenoid valve and including a pressure transducer configured to generate an electronic signal corresponding to a pressure in the accumulator, and a controller. The controller is configured to determine a target pressure for the accumulator based upon a condition of the refrigerant, obtain a current pressure in the accumulator from the pressure transducer, and to operate the recovery valve based upon the accumulator target pressure to control flow of refrigerant from the air conditioning system to the accumulator based upon the obtained current pressure and the determined target pressure for the accumulator.

A refrigerant management system is interchangeably connectable to a plurality of refrigeration systems and can manage one or more connected refrigeration systems. The refrigerant management system includes a portable system housing for securing various components in a self-contained unit. The refrigerant management system includes a work panel that can be arranged on the top of the system housing. The work panel includes various operational efficiency improvement devices that allow a user to use, store and organize various movable items that would otherwise be carried separately from the refrigerant management system.