1. Technician’s Guide and Workbook for the EPA Section 608 Test Section 11: Type 3 Test Part 2

2. Leak Repair Requirements
Topics in this section:
Allowable annual leak rate for commercial and industrial process refrigeration
Corrective actions
Retrofitting or retiring appliances

3. Allowable Annual Leak Rate for Commercial and Industrial Process Refrigeration
Owners, or their designated operators, must take corrective action when an appliance with a full charge of 50 or more pounds is discovered to be leaking ozone-depleting refrigerant at a rate that exceeds the applicable trigger rate. Starting January 1, 2019, these requirements will also apply to appliances containing substitute refrigerants.

4. Industrial Process Refrigeration
Industrial process refrigeration: These are complex customized appliances that are directly linked to the processes used in, for example, the chemical, pharmaceutical, petrochemical, and manufacturing industries. This sector also includes industrial ice machines, appliances used directly in the generation of electricity, and ice rinks. Where one appliance is used for both industrial process refrigeration and other applications, it will be considered industrial process refrigeration equipment if 50 percent or more of its operating capacity is used for industrial process refrigeration.

5. Commercial Refrigeration
Commercial refrigeration: These are refrigeration appliances used in the retail food and cold storage warehouse sectors. Retail food appliances include the refrigeration equipment found in supermarkets, convenience stores, restaurants and other food service establishments. Cold storage includes the refrigeration equipment used to store meat, produce, dairy products, and other perishable goods.

6. Comfort Cooling
Comfort cooling: These are air conditioning appliances used to provide cooling to control heat and/or humidity in occupied facilities, including but not limited to residential, office, and commercial buildings. Comfort cooling appliances include but are not limited to chillers, commercial split systems, and packaged roof-top units.

7. Corrective Actions for Trigger Rates
In general, owners or operators of an appliance that is leaking refrigerant above the applicable trigger rate for repairs must do one of the following:
Repair leaks within 30 days from the date the leak was discovered.
Develop, within 30 days, a plan to retrofit or retire the appliance, and complete the actions under that plan within 1 year.
Owners or operators of industrial process refrigeration equipment and federally owned chillers must conduct initial and follow-up verification tests at the conclusion of any repair efforts. These tests are essential to ensure that the repairs have been successful. Starting January 1, 2019, this requirement will apply to owners and operators of all appliances subject to leak repair requirements. In cases where an industrial process shutdown is required, a repair period of 120 days is substituted for the normal 30-day repair period. Any appliance that requires additional time may be subject to recordkeeping/reporting requirements.

8. What If More Time Is Needed?
Additional time is permitted for conducting repairs on industrial process refrigeration equipment and federally owned equipment where the necessary repair parts are unavailable or if other applicable federal, state, or local regulations make a repair within the required timeline (e.g., 30 or 120 days) impossible. Starting January 1, 2019, these extensions will become available to all commercial refrigeration and comfort cooling appliances as well.

9. Retrofitting or Retiring Appliances (1)
Owners or operators who choose to retrofit or retire appliances must develop a retrofit or retirement plan within 30 days of detecting a leak that exceeds the trigger rates. A copy of the plan must be kept on site, and the original plan must be made available to the EPA upon request. Activities under the plan must be completed within 1 year of the date of the plan.

10. Retrofitting or Retiring Appliances (2)
The EPA will permit additional time to retrofit or retire industrial process refrigeration equipment and federally owned appliances as follows:
The owners or operators must make a request within six months from the expiration of the initial 30-day period.
The EPA will permit additional time to the extent reasonably necessary if a delay is caused by the requirements of other applicable federal, state, or local regulations, or if a suitable replacement refrigerant in accordance with the Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) regulations is not available.
The EPA will permit one additional 12-month period if the appliance is custom-built and the supplier of the appliance or a critical component has quoted a delivery time of more than 30 weeks from when the order was placed (assuming the order was placed in a timely manner). In some cases, the EPA may provide additional time beyond this 12-month extension period if a request is made by the end of the ninth month of the extension.

11. Relief from Retrofit/Retirement Requirements
The owners or operators of industrial process refrigeration equipment or federally owned chillers may be relieved from the retrofit or repair requirements if:
Second efforts to repair the same leaks that were subject to the first repair efforts are successful.
Or, within 180 days of the failed follow-up verification test, the owners or operators determine that the leak rate is below the trigger rate. In this case, the owners or operators must notify the EPA as to how this determination will be made and must submit the information within 30 days of the failed verification test.
Starting January 1, 2019, this relief mechanism will become available to all commercial refrigeration and comfort cooling appliances as well.

12. System Mothballing (Retiring)
For all appliances subject to the leak repair requirements, the timelines may be suspended if the appliance has been mothballed. Mothballing means evacuating refrigerant from an appliance (or its affected isolated section or component) to at least atmospheric pressure, and temporarily shutting the appliance down. However, the timelines pick up again as soon as the system is brought back on-line.

13. Recovery Techniques Topics in this section:
Evacuation requirements for low-pressure appliances in various situations
Definitions of "major" and "non-major" repairs
Allowable methods for pressurizing a low-pressure system for a non-major repair
Need to wait a few minutes after reaching required recovery vacuum to see if system pressure rises (indicating that there is still liquid refrigerant in the system or oil)

14. Evacuation Requirements for Low-Pressure Appliances (1)
To remove refrigerant from low-pressure systems, start with liquid refrigerant and remove as much as possible before removing the vapor. This will greatly speed up the process. The low pressure in the system can make removal difficult, so it is to your advantage to increase system pressure. As long as there is a charge in the system, you are not allowed to use nitrogen to increase the pressure for refrigerant removal. However, heating the refrigerant is allowed, and will increase the system pressure and speed up recovery. Caution: Be careful to not raise system pressure above 10 psig, so as not to break the 15 psig rupture disk. Check a pressure-temperature chart to see what temperature is safe for the refrigerant being recovered.

15. Evacuation Requirements for Low-Pressure Appliances (2)
Once as much liquid as possible has been removed, recover the vapor using the compressor in the recovery unit. The amount of refrigerant left as a vapor can be significant. For example, 100 pounds of refrigerant may be left as vapor in a 350-ton chiller. If the recovery unit is water-cooled, the recovery condenser water should be circulating to remove the heat. The local municipal water supply is the primary source of water for these condensing coils, so you must connect the machine to the water source. During vapor removal, the chiller’s water pumps should also be on to keep water circulating in the tubes and reduce the risk of freezing. The exception is when you suspect a tube leak, in which case the water should be drained from the system to prevent water from being drawn into the system. Another option is to raise the temperature in the equipment room while the refrigerant is being removed.
If oil removal becomes necessary, increasing the system temperature to 130°F will cause refrigerant trapped in the oil to vaporize. The result is that less refrigerant will be contained in the oil when draining.

16. Definition of “Major” and Non-Major Repairs
The EPA defines major repairs as maintenance, service, or repair that involves removal of the appliance compressor, condenser, evaporator, or auxiliary heat exchanger coil. All repairs that do not involve removing refrigerant are considered to be minor repairs.

17. Allowable Methods for Pressurizing a Low-Pressure System for a Non-Major Repair
Recovery units used for evacuating the refrigerant from a low-pressure chiller are equipped with a high-pressure cut-out control, typically set at 10 psig. This corresponds to the maximum pressure that should be used to pressurize a low-pressure system for leak detection. Pressures above this level could cause the rupture disk on the device to relieve pressure and should be avoided.

18. Refrigeration Topics in this section:
Pressure-temperature relationships of low-pressure refrigerants

19. Pressure-Temperature Relationships of Low-Pressure Refrigerants
Centrifugal air-conditioning appliances are charged through the lowest access point on the low-pressure side at the evaporator charging valve. After system servicing, if liquid refrigerant was immediately charged into a low-pressure chiller under a deep vacuum, it would boil and may lower temperatures enough to freeze water in the tubes. This is why refrigerant vapor must be added until the system vapor pressure rises to the point where the liquid would boil at a temperature above the freezing point of water. It is important to determine that point for the refrigerant being used. For example, R-11 boils at the freezing point of water (32°F) when it is under about 18” Hg vacuum. It is considered safe to add liquid after the system pressure has risen to around 16.9” Hg vacuum, at which point R-11 vaporizes at 36°F. Note: Boiling point at psia = psig at sea level.

20. Data Table For Some Common Low-Pressure Refrigerants

21. Safety Topic in this section:
Equipment room requirements under ASHRAE Standard 15 (oxygen deprivation sensor with all refrigerants)

22. Equipment Room Requirements Under ASHRAE Standard 15
ASHRAE Standard 15–2016 requires that equipment rooms that contain refrigeration or air conditioning equipment have detection devices in operation for all of the refrigerant safety groups. If a leak occurs, these detection devices are designed to sound an alarm and activate mechanical ventilation of the equipment room before the concentration of refrigerant in the room exceeds the TLV- TWA. Note: TLV stands for threshold limit value and TWA for time weighted average. The results of calculating those numbers is the recommended concentration level (RCL). When the RCL is exceeded, alarms are required.