40 CFR Part 84 Subpart C

§ 84.100 Purpose

§ 84.104 Prohibitions

(a) Sale of recovered refrigerant

No person may sell, distribute, or transfer to a new owner, or offer for sale, distribution, or transfer to a new owner, any regulated substance used as a refrigerant in stationary refrigerant-containing equipment consisting in whole or in part of recovered regulated substances, unless the recovered regulated substance:

1. Has been reclaimed by a person who has been certified as a reclaimer under 40 CFR 82.164 and has been reclaimed by being reprocessed to all of the specifications in appendix A to 40 CFR part 82, subpart F that are applicable to that regulated substance and verified to meet these specifications using the analytical methodology prescribed in section 5 of appendix A to 40 CFR part 82, subpart F; or
2. Is sold, distributed, or transferred to a new owner, or offered for sale, distribution, or transfer to a new owner solely for the purposes of being reclaimed or destroyed.

§ 84.106 Leak Repair

(a) Applicability

This section applies to refrigerant-containing appliances with a full charge of 15 or more pounds of refrigerant where the refrigerant contains:

1. A regulated substance, or
2. A substitute for a regulated substance that has a global warming potential greater than 53, based on the global warming potentials listed in table 1 of § 84.64(b).

Notwithstanding the criteria above, the requirements of this section do not apply to:

• Appliances containing solely an ozone-depleting substance as listed in 40 CFR part 82, subpart A as a refrigerant;
• Refrigerant-containing appliances used for the residential and light commercial air conditioning and heat pump subsector;
• Motor vehicle air conditioners (MVACs).

Effective Date: The requirements of this section apply as of January 1, 2026.

(b) Leak rate calculation

The owner or operator must calculate the leak rate every time refrigerant is added to an appliance unless the addition is made immediately following a retrofit, installation of a new refrigerant-containing appliance, or qualifies as a seasonal variance.

(c) Requirement to address leaks through repair, or retrofitting or retiring a refrigerant-containing appliance

Owners or operators must repair leaks in refrigerant-containing appliances with a leak rate over the applicable leak rate threshold unless the owner or operator elects to retrofit or retire the appliance.

Leak rate thresholds by appliance type:

(d) Appliance repair

Owners or operators must identify and repair leaks in compliance with this paragraph within 30 days (or 120 days if an industrial process shutdown is required) of when refrigerant is added to a refrigerant-containing appliance exceeding the applicable leak rate.

1. A certified technician must conduct a leak inspection to identify the location of leaks.
2. Leaks must be repaired such that the leak rate of the refrigerant-containing appliance is brought below the applicable leak rate. This must be confirmed by the leak rate calculation performed upon the next refrigerant addition.
3. The time frames are temporarily suspended when an appliance is mothballed. The time will resume on the day additional refrigerant is added to the appliance.

(e) Verification tests

The owner or operator must conduct both initial and follow-up verification tests on each leak that was repaired.

Initial verification test

An initial verification test must be performed within 30 days (or 120 days if an industrial process shutdown is required) of a refrigerant-containing appliance exceeding the applicable leak rate.

Follow-up verification test

A follow-up verification test must be performed within 10 days of the successful initial verification test or 10 days of the refrigerant-containing appliance reaching normal operating characteristics and conditions.

(l) Recordkeeping

All records must be kept for at least three years in electronic or paper format, unless otherwise specified.

(j) Chronically leaking appliances

Owners or operators of refrigerant-containing appliances containing 15 or more pounds of refrigerant that leak 125 percent or more of the full charge in a calendar year must submit a report to EPA by March 1 of the subsequent year.

§ 84.108 Automatic Leak Detection Systems

Owners or operators of refrigerant-containing appliances used for industrial process refrigeration or commercial refrigeration with a full charge of 1,500 pounds or greater must install and use an automatic leak detection system.

Requirements

• Must be audited and calibrated annually
• Must monitor components located inside enclosed buildings or structures
• For systems that detect refrigerant in air: Must detect 10 ppm and alert at 100 ppm
• For systems that monitor appliance conditions: Must alert when 50 lbs or 10% of full charge is lost (whichever is less)

§ 84.110 Emissions from Fire Suppression Equipment

As of January 1, 2026, no person installing, servicing, repairing, or disposing of fire suppression equipment containing a regulated substance may knowingly vent or otherwise release into the environment any regulated substances used in such equipment.

Fire suppression technicians must be trained on emissions reduction of regulated substances by June 1, 2026 (existing technicians) or within 30 days of hiring (new technicians).

§ 84.112 Reclamation

As of January 1, 2026, no person may sell, identify, or report refrigerant as being reclaimed if the regulated substance component of the resulting refrigerant contains more than 15 percent, by weight, of virgin regulated substance.

As of January 1, 2029, servicing and/or repair of supermarket systems, refrigerated transport, and automatic commercial ice makers must be done with reclaimed refrigerant meeting this 15% virgin limit.