The GB F-gas regime, climate impact, CO2-equivalent calculations, supply controls and servicing restrictions.
What fluorinated gases are
The GB regime covers the gases listed in Annex I of assimilated Regulation 517/2014 and mixtures containing them. These include HFCs, PFCs and sulphur hexafluoride, used in refrigeration, fire protection and electrical equipment. Their chemical identity determines the regulatory scope; a substance is not outside it simply because its charge is small.
HFCs contain no chlorine and do not have the ozone-depleting effect of older CFC refrigerants. Their climate effect is a separate concern. Many common F-gases have a high global warming potential, but the values and atmospheric lifetimes differ between substances.
GWP and CO2 equivalent
GWP compares the warming effect of equal masses over a stated period. For the GB calculation, use the specified 100-year GWP, with carbon dioxide as the reference value of 1.
Tonnes CO2e = refrigerant mass in kilograms × GWP ÷ 1000. Alternatively, convert the mass to tonnes first and then multiply. Multiplying kilograms by GWP initially gives kilograms of CO2e, not tonnes.
Worked example. A non-hermetic stationary refrigeration system contains 4 kg of a refrigerant whose stated GWP is 1430. Its charge is 4 × 1430 ÷ 1000 = 5.72 tonnes CO2e, so it crosses the 5-tonne leak-check threshold. The same charge in equipment labelled hermetically sealed would be below that equipment’s 10-tonne exemption limit. Always identify the equipment before applying a threshold.
Supply and new equipment
Great Britain applies assimilated Regulation 517/2014. Domestic measures, including the amended 2015 regulations, implement and enforce it. Northern Ireland follows a different regulatory route.
The HFC phase-down limits the quantity first placed on the GB market, measured in CO2e. Separate restrictions apply to specified new products. They are not a general instruction to scrap every installed system or replace every refrigerant with CO2.
Match the product to its threshold
These GB placing-on-the-market limits apply to particular products; they do not set a limit for every heat pump or refrigeration system.
- Domestic fridges and freezers: HFCs at GWP 150 or more are prohibited, from 1 January 2015.
- Movable room air conditioners: the limit is also GWP 150 or more for HFCs, from 1 January 2020.
- Single split room air conditioners with less than 3 kg of F-gas: GWP 750 or more is prohibited from 1 January 2025. Air-to-water systems are outside this particular ban, as are the other specified exclusions; larger chillers are not small single-split systems.
- Stationary refrigeration: the new-equipment HFC threshold is GWP 2500 or more, from 1 January 2020, with the exception for equipment designed to cool products below −50 °C. Commercial hermetically sealed fridges/freezers have the stricter 150-or-more limit from 2022.
For example, R32’s GWP of 675 is below the small single-split limit but above the movable-room-air-conditioner limit. The refrigerant alone therefore does not decide whether a new product is caught. Check the exact equipment category and any applicable exemption. These are supply restrictions; existing-equipment servicing has its own rules below.
Servicing existing refrigeration
Since 1 January 2020, refrigeration with a charge of 40 tonnes CO2e or more must not be serviced or maintained using virgin F-gas whose GWP is 2500 or more, subject to the stated exceptions. R404A, with GB GWP 3922, is a common affected refrigerant.
The stated exceptions include military uses and refrigeration designed for product temperatures below −50 °C. A separate allowance for correctly labelled reclaimed refrigerant runs until 1 January 2030. Qualifying recycled gas has the same deadline. This route is limited to the service business that performed the recovery, or the business on whose behalf it was performed; the gas must come from the qualifying refrigeration equipment. Check those conditions: a recovered cylinder is not suitable or permitted by default.
A compatible lower-GWP retrofit or replacement may be an alternative. Check the manufacturer’s approval, lubricant, component ratings and safety requirements. Repairing leaks and recovering refrigerant also reduce emissions.
Containment and sales
Intentional release is prohibited when it is not technically necessary for the intended use. Venting a charge to speed up ordinary servicing or disposal is not a permitted shortcut. Prevent avoidable leakage, repair known leaks without undue delay, and arrange the appropriate recovery route.
For regulated installation or servicing uses, gas may be bought by appropriately certified individuals or businesses employing them. Company certification is needed where the business undertakes covered work for others; operators maintaining solely their own plant do not need that company certificate, although relevant personnel qualifications still apply. Sellers check the relevant evidence and record certificate numbers and quantities supplied.
Moving sealed cylinders is a transport task; it gives no authority to work on refrigerant equipment. An end user purchasing a charged, non-hermetic unit must provide evidence that a certified undertaking will install it. Hermetic construction can include capped service ports. Its permanent tight connections must meet a tested leakage rate below 3 g per year, at a test pressure of at least one quarter of the maximum allowable pressure. A label, or having no visible service port, does not make a system hermetic under that definition.