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Refrigerant Management Regulations: EPA Issues Final Rule
- #Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- #EPA
- #Regulations
- #waste
EPA issues final rule updating the refrigerant management regulations
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released a pre-publication version of its updated refrigerant management program regulations. The pre-publication version has been signed and sent to the Federal Register for publication. The final rule updates existing regulations and expands them to cover non-ozone depleting substitute refrigerants (non-ODS). The final rule is effective January 1, 2017. EPA’s current regulations in 40 CFR 82 subpart F require that persons servicing, maintaining, repairing, or disposing of air-conditioning and refrigeration equipment conduct their work in a manner that reduces emissions of ozone-depleting substances (ODS). These requirements are now extended to cover these activities, as appropriate, to non-ozone depleting substances that are not exempt from the venting prohibition, which includes hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).
In addition to expanding coverage to include certain non-ozone depleting substances, the new rule also strengthens existing regulations. The current leak rates for ODS are 35 percent for industrial process refrigeration (IPR) and commercial refrigeration appliances, and 15 percent for comfort cooling and other appliances. The new leak rates are 30 percent for IPR, 20 percent for commercial refrigeration appliances, and 10 percent for comfort cooling and other appliances. These new leak rates are also expanded to cover equipment using HFCs and other substitute refrigerants that are not exempt from the venting prohibition.
Under the new rule, EPA requires quarterly or annual leak inspections for appliances that exceed the applicable leak rate. Owners and operators can avoid the leak inspections if they install, continuously operate, and maintain automatic leak detection systems. Owners or operators of appliances that leak 125 percent of their full charge in a calendar year must submit a report to EPA by March 1 of the following year. This report must detail their repair efforts.
EPA’s new rule restricts the selling of non-exempt substitute refrigerants only to certified technicians, with an exception for small cans of motor-vehicle air-conditioning refrigerant for the do-it-yourself community for personal servicing. These small cans will be required to be outfitted with self-sealing valves by January 1, 2018.
Technicians, or their companies, must keep records of the disposal of appliances containing more than five, and less than 50 pounds of refrigerant. The records must include the company name, location of the appliance, date of recovery, and type of refrigerant recovered.
Additionally, EPA requires organizations to record the total amount of refrigerant, by type, recovered from all appliances disposed of over a calendar month.
Technicians will be required to be certified to handle HFCs and other non-exempt substitutes. Certifying organizations will be required to publish a list or online database of the technicians they have certified.