EU announce F-Gas Regulation update

In order to control emissions from fluorinated greenhouse gases, the European Union has implemented two legislative measures. The second of these – the “F-gas Regulation” – covers all key applications and strengthens existing guidelines originally adopted in 2006.

Controls on the use and emissions of fluorinated gases are now more stringent than any time previously and these now also affect the use of HFCs as refrigerants. The 2014 EU F-Gas Regulation has now replaced the 2006 version, strengthening all earlier requirements whilst also introducing a number of important new practice codes.

With all EU Member states now pledging to show greater consideration for the wider environment by curbing global warming, there will now be significant reductions in the emissions of F-Gases. As powerful greenhouses gases, their impact on climate change has been estimated at being several thousand times higher than CO2 (per kg of gas emitted), hence the change.

 

FGR

 

Stationary air-conditioning and heat pumps: Compliance Checklist for EU F-Gas Regulation

Purchase of new equipment

–  New: Comply with various bans on the use of HFCs in new air-conditioning equipment

–  New: Take account of HFC phase down when selecting refrigerants

 

Operation of existing equipment

–  Mandatory leak checks and repairs.

–  New: Use new CO2 equivalent size thresholds for mandatory leak checks.

–  New: Use new size thresholds for automatic leak detection (from 1st Jan 2015).

–  Keep records about air-conditioning and heat pump equipment using HFC refrigerants.

–  Use qualified technicians for leak checking and refrigerant handling operations.

 

End-of-life requirements                            

–  Mandatory recovery of refrigerant by qualified technician.