TEMPE, Ariz. - An upcoming amendment to the Clean Air Act includes a provision that would allow for more flexibility in the way refrigerant leak rate calculation methods have been regulated for the last 13 years, according to a refrigerant compliance expert at ESS.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) amendments to Section 608 of the Clean Air Act are scheduled to become effective March 14, 2005. Mark Harbin, refrigerant software and compliance services manager for ESS, stated that the amendments will impact virtually all sectors that use refrigerants for comfort cooling, commercial refrigeration, industrial process refrigeration, or federally owned systems. Included are appliances that contain CFC or HCFC refrigerant charges in excess of 50 pounds, along with HFC blends that contain any kind of ozone-depleting component, said Harbin.