The Essentials
EPA 608 refers to section 608 of the Clean Air Act that established the National Recycling and Emission Reduction Program. The aim of the program is to prohibit individuals from intentionally venting ozone-depleting substances (ODS), including refrigerants and their substitutes.
ODS refrigerants can only be sold or handled by individuals who have completed their EPA 608 certification.
This extends to technicians, which they identify as anyone who:
- Attaches or detaches hoses and gauges to and from an appliance to measure pressure within it.
- Adds or removes refrigerant from an appliance.
- Performs an activity that impacts or violates the integrity of a motor vehicle air conditioner (MVAC)-like appliance or small appliance.
Types of Certifications
There are 4 different tests within the 608 exam and they are divided by the type of equipment the technicians plan to work on.
Type 1 is for servicing small appliances. Small appliances are defined by the EPA as any of the following products that are fully manufactured, charged, and hermetically sealed in factory with five pounds or less of refrigerant:
- Refrigerators and Freezers designed for home use
- Room Air Conditioners (including window units and packaged terminal air conditioners)
- Packaged Terminal Heat Pumps
- Dehumidifiers
- Under-the-counter Ice Makers
- Vending Machines
- Drinking Water Coolers
Type 2 is for servicing or disposing of high or very-high pressure appliances (excluding small appliances and MVACs). High or very-high pressure appliances are defined by the EPA as any appliances that contain up to 200 pounds of refrigerant, excluding those that qualify as small appliances.
Type 3 is for servicing low-pressure appliances. Low-pressure appliances are defined by the EPA as appliances whose internal pressure is comparatively lower than the external (atmospheric) pressure which is 14.7 psi, working as a vacuum. The most common example of a type 3 appliance is a chiller system.
Universal is for servicing all types of equipment, including Type 1, Type 2, and Type 3.
The test consists of a core section, plus sections for Type 1, Type 2, and Type 3. Each section contains 25 questions. To become certified, technicians must pass the core section and at least one of the other type sections. If you pass them all, you earn a Universal Technician status.
For more information on the test types, you can visit the EPA’s site at https://www.epa.gov/section608/section-608-technician-certification-requirements.
Shared Responsibility, Shared Consequences
Up until this point, we’ve looked at what the individual technician must do to become certified.
What many people don’t know is that the EPA 608 regulatory requirements for disposals, leak repairs, reclamation, recovery, recycling of equipment, and recordkeeping fall equally on the shoulders of service technicians, owners, operators of large refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment, refrigerant wholesalers, and EPA-certified refrigerant reclaimers.
Requirements Include:
- Disposals
- Leak repairs
- Reclamation
- Recovery
- Recycling of equipment
- Recordkeeping
It’s Just a Statistic, Until it Happens to You
Contractors and company owners can face fines up to $57,617 per day, per technician for slips in their compliance.
Investigations take time. In the window it takes for them to build a case against you, you could be wracking up penalties equal to the cost of a new car every day over the course of months.
A Tool, Shield, and Solution
Imagine a scenario:
A knock on the door and a request to provide three months of documentation from a service performed two years ago.
What are the odds an office admin read a 0 as an O when they entered the serial number and now the documentation is incorrect? Or your office staff has to search through piles of
The best thing you can do to protect you and your company is to equip yourself with a better way of doing things.
FMHero was designed to not only shield against compliance and regulatory mandates with easy recordkeeping, but to also provide technicians, admin, and owners with a platform that automates busy work, saving time and money.
It’s a forward looking system that protects you in an ever changing climate of regulations and standards.
What’s it cost to protect yourself? Absolutely nothing!
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