What certification standards must refrigerant recovery and recycling equipment meet under 40 CFR 82.158 before a technician can use it on the job? Answer in under 100 words.

Details / How it works

• Starting January 1, 2017, § 82.158 governs recovery and/or recycling equipment used on appliances and prohibits manufacturing or importing such equipment unless it is certified under the section.
• Manufacturers and importers must have equipment built on or after November 15, 1993 certified by an approved equipment testing organization.
• By build date: B1 (ARI 740-1993) covers Nov 15, 1993–Sep 21, 2003; B2 (ARI 740-1995) covers Sep 22, 2003–Dec 31, 2016; B3 (non-flammable) or B4 (flammable) covers Jan 1, 2017 onward.
• Appendix B3 is based on AHRI Standard 740-2016.
• An approved equipment testing organization is one approved by the EPA Administrator pursuant to § 82.160.
• Machines must achieve the Table 2 evacuation levels for their appliance category, and technicians must use equipment certified pursuant to § 82.158.
• Certified units must carry a durable label naming the certifying organization and appliance category, plus manufacture date and serial number.
• Manufacturers or importers must retest or inspect certified equipment at least every three years, and EPA may revoke certification if a model line later fails the criteria.
• Units with a noncondensables purge device may vent no more than 3 percent of recycled refrigerant, and hoses must use low-loss fittings.

Numbers & thresholds

For small appliances, recovery equipment must recover 90 percent of the refrigerant with the compressor operating or 80 percent with it inoperative, or achieve a four-inch vacuum.

Exceptions & edge cases

• Equipment built before November 15, 1993 (except small appliances, MVACs, and MVAC-like appliances) is grandfathered as certified if it reaches its Table 2 evacuation level when checked with a properly calibrated pressure gauge.
• Altering a certified unit's design triggers resubmission for certification testing, and the altered equipment counts as uncertified until it passes.
• MVAC and MVAC-like recovery equipment is certified under subpart B of Part 82, with pre-November 15, 1993 MVAC-like gear required to reach 102 mm Hg vacuum.
• System-dependent recovery equipment cannot be used on appliances charged with more than 15 pounds of refrigerant unless it is permanently attached as a pump-out unit.
• Per § 82.154(b), no one may maintain, service, repair, or dispose of an appliance containing regulated refrigerants without using equipment certified for that refrigerant and appliance type under § 82.158.