Q: What are the registration, recordkeeping, and reporting requirements for facilities operating refrigeration equipment and appliances?
A: Recordkeeping
Appliance inventory. Owners or operators must maintain an inventory of all appliances with a full charge of 50 or more pounds of refrigerant. The inventory must be include the following and be maintained in electronic or paper format for 3 years after the appliance is retired:
- The identification of the owner or operator of the appliance;
- The address where the appliance is located;
- The full charge of the appliance and the method for how the full charge was determined;
- If using an established range for determining full charge, records must include the range for the full charge of the appliance, its midpoint, and how the range was determined;
- Any revisions of the full charge, how they were determined, and the dates such revisions occurred.
Leak records. Anyone servicing (i.e., maintaining, servicing, repairing or disposing of) an appliance with a full charge of more than 50 pounds of any Class I or Class II refrigerant must, upon conclusion of that service, provide the owner or operator of the appliance with the following documentation:
- The identity and location of the appliance;
- The date of the maintenance, service, repair, or disposal performed;
- The part(s) of the appliance being maintained, serviced, repaired, or disposed;
- The type of maintenance, service, repair, or disposal performed for each part;
- The name of the person performing the maintenance, service, repair, or disposal;
- The amount and type of refrigerant added to, or in the case of disposal removed from, the appliance;
- The full charge of the appliance; and
- The leak rate and the method used to determine the leak rate.
If purged refrigerants that are destroyed are excluded from leak rate calculations, the owner or operator must maintain records to support the amount of refrigerant claimed as sent for destruction. Records must include:
- The identification of the destruction facility and a contact person, including the address and telephone number;
- A description of the appliance, focusing on aspects relevant to the purging of refrigerant and subsequent destruction;
- A description of the methods used to determine the quantity of refrigerant sent for destruction and type of records that are being kept by the owners or operators where the appliance is located;
- The frequency of monitoring and data-recording; and
- A description of the control device, and its destruction efficiency.
Inspection records. Owners or operators must keep records of leak inspections that include:
- The date of inspection;
- The method(s) used to conduct the leak inspection;
- A list of the location of each leak that was identified; and
- A certification that all visible and accessible parts of the appliance were inspected.
Technicians conducting leak inspections must, upon conclusion of that service, provide the owner or operator of the appliance with documentation that meets the recordkeeping requirements.
If using an automatic leak detection system, the owner or operator must maintain records of the installation and the annual audit and calibration of the system, a record of each date the monitoring system identified a leak, and the location of the leak.
Leak repair records. Owners or operators must maintain records of the dates and results of all initial and follow-up verification tests, including:
- The location of the appliance;
- The date(s) of the verification tests;
- The location(s) of all repaired leaks that were tested
- The type(s) of verification test(s) used; and
- The results of the verification tests.
Technicians conducting initial or follow-up verification tests must, upon conclusion of that service, provide the owner or operator of the appliance with documentation that meets the recordkeeping requirements.
Retrofit and retirement records. Owners or operators must maintain retrofit or retirement plans and any extension requests submitted to the EPA.
Appliance disposal records. Certified technicians evacuating refrigerant from appliances with a full charge of more than 5 and less than 50 pounds of refrigerant for purposes of disposal of that appliance must keep records documenting the following for three years:
- The company name, location of the appliance, date of recovery, and type of refrigerant recovered for each appliance;
- The total quantity of refrigerant, by type, recovered from all disposed appliances in each calendar month; and
- The quantity of refrigerant, by type, transferred for reclamation and/or destruction, the person to whom it was transferred, and the date of transfer.
Reporting
Notifications must be provided to EPA electronically at 608reports@epa.gov for:
- Time extensions to complete repairs;
- Relief from the obligation to retrofit or retire an appliance;
- Time extensions to complete a retrofit or retirement of an appliance;
- Chronically leaking appliances;
- The first time purged refrigerants that are destroyed are excluded from leak rate calculations.
The notification must include all the recorded information.
If the notification contains confidential business information, the information should be submitted to:
Section 608 Program Manager
Stratospheric Protection Division, Mail Code: 6205T
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20460
Governing laws and regulations: