The short answer
Cross your trigger — 10% comfort cooling, 20% commercial refrigeration, 30% industrial process, 10% everything else — and the clock starts: repair in 30 days (120 with an industrial process shutdown), or a retrofit/retire plan in 30 days, done in 1 year. Leak 125% of full charge in a calendar year and the appliance is a chronic leaker: report to EPA by March 1. Records: 3 years.
1. Which appliances are covered?
| Rule | Refrigerants | Coverage threshold |
|---|---|---|
| 40 CFR §82.157 (classic Section 608) | Ozone-depleting (e.g. R-22) | Full charge 50 lb or more |
| 40 CFR §84.106 (AIM Act, applies as of Jan 1, 2026) | HFCs, and substitutes with GWP > 53 | Full charge 15 lb or more |
One carve-out to memorize: residential and light-commercial AC and heat pumps are exempt from §84.106 leak repair (§84.106(a)) — venting, certification, and recovery rules still apply to them in full.
2. The trigger rates
The leak rate is annualized at every refrigerant addition — (lb added ÷ full charge) × (365 ÷ days since the last addition) × 100 — or by EPA's rolling-average method. The same method must be used for every covered appliance at a facility.
| Appliance type | Trigger leak rate |
|---|---|
| Comfort cooling (chillers included) | 10% per year |
| Commercial refrigeration | 20% per year |
| Industrial process refrigeration | 30% per year |
| All other appliances | 10% per year |
Old-key trap: pre-2016 study guides list 35% triggers. That key is retired — the table above is current under both §82.157 and §84.106.
3. The clocks, once you cross a trigger
| Duty | Deadline |
|---|---|
| Repair the leaks | 30 days from the addition that showed the exceedance |
| Repair requiring an industrial process shutdown | 120 days |
| Retrofit / retire instead | Plan developed within 30 days, kept on site, completed within 1 year |
| Verification tests after repair | Initial test when the repair is finished (before refrigerant is added back); follow-up within 30 days after the appliance returns to normal operating conditions |
| Leak inspections after an exceedance | Annual for most; quarterly for commercial / IPR appliances at 500 lb or more, until four consecutive quarters below the trigger |
| Chronic leaker (≥125% of full charge in a calendar year) | Report to EPA by March 1 of the following year |
| Records | Kept 3 years: date, technician name + certification number, refrigerant added/recovered, leak check + method, leaks found/repaired, verification test dates |
Stuck waiting on parts, or another regulation blocks the repair? EPA permits additional time in those cases — documented, not automatic. And if the appliance is mothballed (evacuated to at least atmospheric pressure and temporarily shut down), the timelines suspend until it returns to service.
Go deeper, then drill it
The full guide works the examples; the Refrigerant Log runs this math on every add; the Recent Rule Changes quiz is built from this page's traps.