NATIONAL REPORT—Packaged terminal air conditioners (PTACs), properly maintained, are a reliable source for heating and cooling hotel guestrooms and other small spaces for up to seven to 10 years. Not properly maintained, and especially in higher-humidity environments, PTACs have a shorter life and can keep hoteliers—and guests—up at night and be the reason for negative reviews and lost room revenue. It is at the “end of their life” that PTACS truly become problematic. Do you send a PTAC to a landfill?
Nathan Faircloth, Director/Business Development & Vendor Management, RoomOne Solutions, says the landfill option is not a good one for bulky PTACs as it can lead to a fine as hefty as $30,000 for releasing refrigerant gases into the atmosphere. Those gases can cut a hole through the ozone layer. PTAC compressors can also leak black oil.
RoomOne Solutions, with locations in Knoxville, Tenn. and Las Vegas, specializes in no-cost removal of PTACs from hotels. The company, which has been around since 2008 by another name and in business since 2020 as RoomOne Solutions, either repairs or recycles PTACs once they are removed from a property. The company also sells and installs new PTACs.
Sending away bulk items can typically be a cost for a hotel owner but RoomOne Solutions changes that. “We are the only people who do this,” Faircloth says.
An EPA-Certified Process
RoomOne Solutions uses EPA-certified refrigerant reclaimers to break down the PTACs into materials that can be monetized. “We sell or repurpose every part of the unit,” Faircloth says. “The lifecycle of all the materials is how we stay in business.”
The R-32 or R410A refrigerant is collected and recycled. “Most places don’t have a certificate to recycle the gas,” Faircloth says.
Many hotels do not have someone on staff who can handle PTAC maintenance and proper PTAC end-of-life care. PTACs often end up in the dumpster or in a storage room on property. “Some will say, ‘I will just leave it outside and someone will pick it up,’” Faircloth says. “Or an owner may take a PTAC from a nicer property to a lower-level property.”
RoomOne Solutions works with PTAC manufacturers, individual hotels and larger hotel companies to repair and/or recycle PTACs. “We are the PTAC recycling vendor for IHG,” Faircloth says. “We are working on a couple of other big flags right now. Hotel companies have been very receptive. It helps that it is free.”
Those who provide PTACs to RoomOne Solutions are given the pallet and the packaging material. A minimum of six is required for shipping.
“People have been so receptive to what we do,” Faircloth says. “They have a sense of pride. I have been amazed at how hoteliers have been willing to roll up their sleeves a little bit.”
Customer Example: Lodging Host
Lodging Host, a management company based in Longview, Texas, has been working with RoomOne Solutions for more than three years. Todd Schumann, Director of Engineering for the company, says the hotels his company manages have either PTACs or VTACs. His company relies on RoomOne Solutions for new supply and PTAC recycling.
Schumann says that prior to working with RoomOne Solutions, he did not know for certain whether PTACs that were picked up were being properly recycled. Now, with the help of a pallet and plastic wrap, he knows PTACs will be quickly picked up and properly handled.
“Waiting until we have six to send is a minor inconvenience compared to posing risk to the environment,” Schumann says.
Glenn Hasek can be reached at greenlodgingnews@gmail.com.
