Fluorinated Refrigerant (F-Gas) Regulations
The European Union's F-Gas Regulation No 842/2006 became law on 4 July 2006 and many of the requirements came into force on 4th July 2007 however, some of these requirements are still awaiting clarification from the Commission. The details below helps to outline what you need to do now. F-Gases include all HFC refrigerants, such as R134a, and blends containing F-Gases such as R407C, R410A, R404A.
If you are handling, recovering, supplying, installing, manufacturing or own equipment containing HFC refrigerants in stationary equipment you now have new legal obligations under the F-Gas Regulations.
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Operators of equipment must prevent leakage, ensure leak checks are carried out and repair any leaks as soon as possible in addition to arranging proper refrigerant recovery, only by qualified personnel (current requirement is City & Guilds 2079 or CITB).
Ensure systems are checked for leaks:
- At least annually if more than 3kg charge (hermetically (factory) sealed more than 6kg)
- At least once every six months if over 30kg. If they have an automatic leakage detection system they need only be checked every 12 months.
- Automatic leakage detection systems must be installed on applications with 300 kg or more, and these systems should be checked every 6 months.
- If a leak is detected and repaired, a further check must be carried out on the repair site within or up to one month to ensure that the repair has been effective.
Operators must make available to the competent authority on demand:
- Quantity and type of F-Gases installed, added or recovered
- Name of company or technician carrying out servicing
- Dates and results of leakage checks and rectification work carried out
Companies involved with containment and recovery will only be able to take delivery of
F-Gases if they have appropriately certificated personnel.
The Operator - The DEFRA initial guidance on the regulation states that “the operator is defined in Article 2. It is the natural or legal person who exercises actual power over the technical functioning of the equipment and systems. Therefore the key consideration when identifying the operator will be the way in which responsibilities for managing equipment are arranged, who exercises actual power over its functioning and what actual power means in practice. In most circumstances, it is likely to be that the person who has actual power will be the person or legal person (typically a company) responsible for giving instructions to its employees as to the day to day technical functioning of the equipment.”
Hermetically sealed equipment - The DEFRA supplementary guidance for owners of stationary refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump equipment defines this as a system in which all refrigerant containing parts are made tight by welding, brazing or a similar permanent connection which may include capped valves and capped service ports that allow proper repair or disposal and which have a tested leakage rate of less than 3 grams per year under a pressure of at least a quarter of the maximum allowable pressure.
You can download up to date Guidance, a copy of the Regulation and the recent Consultation on penalties and enforcement at:
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