EPA Section 608 · free tool

EPA 608 leak rate calculator

Built to 40 CFR 82.157 and 82.152 · the Section 608 leak repair rule as it stands today

This one is for appliances still running on an ozone depleting refrigerant such as R‑22. Put in the full charge and the pounds you added, and it works out the leak rate by either of the two methods Section 608 allows, checks it against the threshold for that kind of appliance, and shows the arithmetic so you can put it straight in the record.

Wrong rule? If the appliance runs on an HFC such as R‑410A, R‑404A or R‑134a, Section 608 leak repair no longer applies to it. Use the 40 CFR 84 refrigerant leak rate calculator instead. The difference is set out below.

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Which rule is your appliance under?

This is where most of the confusion sits. There are now two leak repair rules, and which one you are under is decided by what is in the appliance, not by how big it is.

An appliance charged with a class I or class II refrigerant, or a blend containing one, is under Section 608. One charged solely with a substitute is not. — 40 CFR 82.157(a), 40 CFR 84.106(a)

The 50 pound cut off

Section 608 leak repair reaches an appliance only once its full charge is 50 pounds or more of a class I or class II refrigerant. Below that, the leak repair requirements in 82.157 do not apply, although everything else in Section 608 still does: the refrigerant must be recovered, the technician must be certified, and venting is still illegal.

Full charge means what the appliance normally holds when it is working properly, and the rule sets out four permitted ways of establishing it. Whichever you use has to go in the appliance record.

How the leak rate is worked out

The leak rate is the percentage of the full charge that would be lost over 12 months if the current rate of loss carried on. Section 608 allows two ways of arriving at it, and the same method must be used for every appliance subject to leak repair at an operating facility.

Annualizing method

1. Divide the pounds added to bring the appliance back to full charge by the pounds it holds at full charge.
2. Take the shorter of the days since refrigerant was last added or 365 days, and divide that by 365.
3. Divide the first number by the second.
4. Multiply by 100.

Multiple additions chasing the same leak count as one addition in step 1. — 40 CFR 82.152, definition of leak rate

Rolling average method

1. Add up the pounds put into the appliance over the previous 365 days, or, if it is shorter, the period since the last successful follow-up verification test that showed every identified leak repaired.
2. Divide by the full charge.
3. Multiply by 100.

Purged refrigerant destroyed at a verifiable destruction efficiency of 98% or greater is not counted toward the leak rate. — 40 CFR 82.157(k)

When must the leak rate of an appliance be calculated?

Every single time refrigerant is added to a covered appliance. Not once a year, not when somebody suspects a leak: every addition. There are three exceptions, and only three. An addition made immediately following a retrofit, the first charge of a newly installed appliance, and an addition that qualifies as a seasonal variance.

The person doing the work also has to hand the owner or operator documentation of what was added or removed, at the end of the job.

40 CFR 82.157(b)

If you are over the threshold

The clock starts on the day the refrigerant went in, not the day anyone noticed. Within 30 days, or 120 days if an industrial process shutdown is needed, a certified technician has to conduct a leak inspection to find the leaks, the leaks have to be repaired, and an initial verification test has to show that the repairs hold. A follow-up verification test then has to be done within 10 days of the successful initial test, or within 10 days of the appliance reaching normal operating conditions if it had to be evacuated.

If repairs do not bring the leak rate below the threshold, the owner or operator has to create and implement a retrofit or retirement plan instead.

40 CFR 82.157(c) to (f)

Then the inspections start

Going over the threshold also puts the appliance on an inspection schedule until it can be shown to be back under it.

40 CFR 82.157(g)

What has to be reported, not just kept

An appliance holding 50 pounds or more that leaks 125% or more of its full charge in a calendar year has to be reported to the EPA by March 1 of the following year, with an account of what was done to find the leaks and repair it. Records themselves have to be kept for at least three years, and the appliance record has to be kept until three years after the appliance is retired.

40 CFR 82.157(j) and (l)

Common questions

The questions technicians actually get asked about leak rates, including the ones that turn up in EPA 608 exam prep, are answered on EPA 608 leak rate questions, answered.

Where this comes from

The leak repair requirements, the thresholds, the deadlines, the inspection schedule and the recordkeeping are at 40 CFR 82.157. The definition of leak rate and both formulas are at 40 CFR 82.152. The HFC rule that replaced it for substitute refrigerants is at 40 CFR 84.106. The EPA’s own pages on stationary refrigeration are at epa.gov/section608.

This is a guide, not legal advice. It reflects the rule as published and we have cited every figure, but your obligations depend on your appliances and your circumstances. Check the regulation itself, and take advice if anything about your situation is unusual.