Refrigerant leaks and the law

Why the gas matters

Many older refrigerants damage the ozone layer, and others are potent greenhouse gases. The agency explains the rule against releasing them in two sentences: “It’s illegal to release regulated refrigerants into the air. This is because some refrigerants can stay in the atmosphere for decades or more and can be thousands of times worse for climate change than carbon dioxide.”

It gives a sense of scale. One kilogram of the refrigerant R410a has the same greenhouse effect as 2 tonnes of carbon dioxide, which it compares to driving a car 10,000 km. Refrigerants that are not dealt with properly add emissions it likens to 2 million cars on Australia’s roads each year.

Where leaks come from

The agency names two sources of refrigerant leaks: equipment that is faulty or poorly maintained, and equipment that is disposed of improperly. Its answer for households is to use only licensed technicians who know how to maintain the equipment and manage the gases.

The law, line by line

1. No release. Releasing regulated refrigerants into the air is illegal.
2. Licensed hands only. Anyone handling fluorocarbon refrigerants, which include CFCs, HCFCs and HFCs, must hold an appropriate refrigerant handling licence, and handling them without one is an offence.
3. Any work that could leak. The licence is needed for anything involving a regulated refrigerant that could cause leakage, including installing, servicing, maintaining and decommissioning the equipment.
4. No higher-impact top-ups. Since rules that came into force on 1 January 2020, equipment may not be charged with a refrigerant of higher global warming potential than it was designed to use, and doing so is an offence under the Regulations. The agency’s example: a system designed for R32 (global warming potential 675) cannot be charged with R410A (2088). The design refrigerant is shown on the compliance plate and in the manufacturer’s manual. The agency lists exceptions: the ban does not apply when HCFC equipment is charged with an HFC (replacing R22 with R427A is its example), when the new refrigerant has a lower global warming potential, or when the equipment is essential for health or public safety and its design refrigerant is not available. Where equipment is designed for more than one refrigerant and the plate or manual does not name one, it may be charged with any type the manufacturer recommends.
5. A label on every system. “All systems must be labelled with the refrigerant used, its charge and whether it’s flammable.”

One exception sits in the Commonwealth rules: they do not require a refrigerant handling licence for natural refrigerants such as hydrocarbons. That does not mean anything goes. The agency says strict standards apply to flammable refrigerants and vary between states and territories, and that some of them may forbid using hydrocarbons to repair or service air conditioners without authorisation or a licence.

What a leak means for your unit

For the technician, the order of work is set: “Fix any leaks before recharging a system.” For you, it is worth knowing that too little refrigerant was one of the faults that cost energy in the federal energy department’s bench tests. Entry 01 describes those tests.

If a repair would change the type of refrigerant in your system, the agency flags two cautions. A change may void the equipment warranty or affect your insurance, so ask the technician and check with the manufacturer and your insurer. And a system should not be retrofitted with a more hazardous refrigerant unless it has been redesigned on the advice of the manufacturer or an engineer. Where a retrofit does go ahead, the agency says the refrigerant must be fully evacuated and recovered and the system leak tested.

The phase-down and the unit on your wall

Australia has been phasing down imports of HFCs since 1 January 2018, through a quota system. HFCs are synthetic greenhouse gases used mostly in refrigeration and air conditioning equipment. The phase-down covers bulk gas, such as gas in cylinders, and not gas that arrives already inside equipment like an air conditioner. Equipment already in Australia is not affected, and the agency says HFCs for servicing existing equipment will stay available, because the phase-down is paced to match demand and the replacement of equipment at the end of its life. In its words, “There will be no direct changes for consumers.”

Most new split systems use HFC-32, a refrigerant with a lower global warming potential, Your Home notes, and those units are also generally more energy efficient. Entry 04 weighs repair against replacement.

Reporting a breach

The agency asks for regulatory breaches and poor workmanship to be reported, with evidence, through the Australian Refrigeration Council’s online form, and says serious cases are escalated to it for investigation. To check whether a technician is licensed, the council keeps a full list on its Look For The Tick site.