Ozone Regulations
Ozone regulations came about to meet the directives of the Montreal Agreement where a timetable for phase out was agreed. In most organisations only HCFC refrigerants and most common R22 is still in use which have Ozone Depleting Potential (ODP).
In the United Kingdom the following requirements need to be met EC Regulation 1005/2009 and the statutory instruments, 2002 No.528, 2008 No.91 and 2009 No.216
Operator Responsibilities
(Operator is the legal person exercising actual power over technical functioning of the equipment and systems-usually these powers lie with a single natural or legal person, normally the owner)
The operator has a legal obligation to
- Only reclaimed/recycled HCFC?s can be used for plant maintenance until 31st December 2014
- Stop using reclaimed/recycled HCFC?s for plant maintenance after 1st January 2015
- Take steps to prevent HCFC leakage and to repair leakage as soon as possible/within 14 days
- Have regular leak checking by qualified engineers
- Maintain suitable records of equipment containing >3kg of HCFC refrigerants
- Label equipment to which recycled/reclaimed HCFC?s have been added
- Recover ODS during plant servicing, maintenance and at the end of plant life
TOB Customer aims
TOB Environmental as a company are of the belief that it is their responsibility as a service provider to work with their clients to enable them to meet EC ozone regulations regardless of the level of maintenance agreement.
- To this end as part of any maintenance agreement during the first maintenance visit
- Refrigerant Log book will be produced containing all equipment with ODP
- Full systems leak test and operating logs will be carried out
- Full report of system conditions along with any recommendations or repairs required to achieve full compliance under the regulation.
Please use the link for valuable information supplied by F-Gas Support on the following subjects
- RAC1 - Overview
- RAC2 - Usage of F-gases and ODF
- RAC3 - Key Obligations
- RAC4 - Getting Started
- RAC5 - Certification of Personnel and Companies
- RAC6 - Practical Guidance
- RAC7 - Refrigerant Selection
- RAC8 - HCFC phase out
