Stationary Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning

Technician Certification

Steps For Replacing a Lost Card (Section 608)

Where to Return Used Refrigerant

Repairing or Replacing Your Home Air Conditioner?

Click here for information on the phaseout of HCFC refrigerant

EPA has issued regulations under Section 608 of the Clean Air Act to minimize the emission of refrigerants by maximizing the recovery and recycling of such substances during the service, repair, or disposal of refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment (i.e., appliances).

Note: The handling and recycling of refrigerants used in motor vehicle air-conditioning systems are governed under Section 609 of the Clean Air Act.) This page provides fact sheets describing Section 608 and regulations related to Section 608.

Fact Sheets

Regulations and Federal Register Notices

Amendments to the Section 608 Leak Repair Requirements

Proposed Rule on Amendments to the Section 608 Leak Repair Requirements (December 15, 2010; 75FR 78558) (28 pp, 314 KB). This rule proposes changes to the leak repair regulations promulgated under Section 608 of the Clean Air Act. EPA is proposing to lower the leak repair trigger rates for comfort cooling, commercial refrigeration, and industrial process refrigeration and airconditioning equipment (i.e., appliances) with ozone-depleting refrigerant charges greater than 50 pounds. This action proposes to streamline existing required practices and associated reporting and recordkeeping requirements by establishing similar leak repair requirements for owners or operators of comfort cooling, commercial refrigeration, and industrial process refrigeration appliances. This action also proposes to reduce the use and emissions of class I and class II controlled substances (such as but not limited, to CFC–11, CFC–12, HCFC–123, HCFC–22) by requiring the following: Verification and documentation of all repairs, retrofit or retirement of appliances that cannot be sufficiently repaired, mandatory replacement of appliance components that have a history of failures, and mandatory recordkeeping of the determination of the full charge and the fate of recovered refrigerant.

Recycling of Substitute Refrigerants

Proposed Rule Recycling of Refrigerant Substitutes (June 11, 1998; 63 FR 32044) (56 pp, 570 KB, About PDF). This rule proposed to amend the rule on refrigerant recycling to clarify how the Section 608 requirements might extend to hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) and perfluorocarbon (PFC) substitutes for ozone-depleting, chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) and hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC), refrigerants. This rule also proposed to exempt certain substitute refrigerants from the Clean Air Act refrigerant venting prohibition on the basis of evidence that their release does not pose a threat to the environment.

Final Rule on Venting and Sales of Refrigerant Substitutes (March 12, 2004; 69 FR 11946) (43 pp, 491 KB, About PDF). This rule sustains the Clean Air Act prohibition against venting hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) and perfluorocarbon (PFC) refrigerants. The knowing venting of HFC and PFC refrigerants during the maintenance, service, repair, and disposal of air-conditioning and refrigeration equipment (i.e., appliances) remains illegal under Section 608 of the Clean Air Act. The rule also restricts the sale of HFC refrigerants that consist of an ODS to EPA-certified technicians. However, HFC refrigerants and HFC refrigerant blends that do not consist of an ODS are not covered under “The Refrigerant Sales Restriction.”

Final Rule on Leak Repair Requirements for Appliances Using Refrigerant Substitutes (January 11, 2005; 70 FR 1972) (22 pp, 256 KB, About PDF). This rule extends the leak repair required practices and the associated reporting and recordkeeping requirements to owners and/or operators of comfort cooling, commercial refrigeration, or industrial process refrigeration appliances containing more than 50 pounds of a substitute refrigerant, if the substitute contains a class I or class II ODS. In addition, EPA has defined leak rate in terms of the percentage of the appliance's full charge that would be lost over a consecutive 12-month period, if the current rate of loss were to continue over that period. EPA now requires calculation of the leak rate every time that refrigerant is added to an appliance.

Direct Final and Concurrent Proposed Rule Amending the Definition of Refrigerant (April 13, 2005; 70 FR 19371) (6 pp, 197 KB, About PDF). This rule amends the definition of refrigerant to make certain that it only includes substitutes that consist of a class I or class II ODS. This rulemaking also amends the venting prohibition to make certain that it remains illegal to knowingly vent nonexempt substitutes that do not consist of a class I or class II ODS, such as R-134a and R-410A.