F-Gas Category II (IE) common mistakes
F-Gas Category II (IE) · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Sets the leak-check interval purely from the charge in kilograms - e.g. puts a 5 kg R-404A system on a 12-monthly check because 'it's only 5 kg'.
The 5 / 50 / 500 thresholds feel like they refer to large plant, so candidates skip the GWP conversion when working under time pressure, or they remember the numbers but not that they are in tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
What to do instead
Always convert first: kg × GWP ÷ 1000. Worked habit - 5 kg R-404A (GWP ≈ 4000) ≈ 20 tCO2e, so it is over the 5 tCO2e band and needs at least a 12-monthly check, and over 50 tCO2e if the charge grows. Drill the bands: ≥5 tCO2e = 12 months, ≥50 tCO2e = 6 months, ≥500 tCO2e = 3 months plus a leak detection system.
Writes a record that says only 'leak check carried out - no leaks', then files it without the technician's name and certification number, the GWP/tCO2e of the charge, or the quantity of gas added.
Candidates treat the record as a memory aid for themselves rather than as a legal document that an inspector will read, and they never see a compliant example form during training.
What to do instead
Use a fixed template with every required field: date, equipment ID and location, charge in kg and in tCO2e, GWP, result, gas added, technician name and certificate number, and - after a repair - the date of the follow-up verification check. Keep records for at least 5 years and produce them to the EPA on request.
Describes 'recycling' as restoring refrigerant to virgin product specification, or says recovered gas can be put straight into another customer's system.
In everyday English the three terms sound interchangeable, and candidates learn them as a list of three words without attaching a distinct technical meaning to each.
What to do instead
Learn one-line definitions and test yourself on them: recovery = collecting gas into a container; recycling = basic cleaning/separation on site for reuse in the same equipment; reclamation = reprocessing off site to virgin specification, which requires laboratory analysis before the gas can be sold or used elsewhere. Only reclaimed gas carries a specification.
At decommissioning, tops up a recovery cylinder past its limit, mixes two different refrigerants in one cylinder, or blows residual gas out of the hoses and the scrap unit to atmosphere.
Cylinders are heavy and half-empty-looking, so 'there's room for a bit more' feels safe; hose purging is invisible and there is no immediate feedback that a legal limit has been crossed.
What to do instead
Fill to a maximum of 80% of the cylinder's water capacity, weigh continuously as you fill, use dedicated correctly labelled cylinders per refrigerant, and never mix. Purge hoses to the recovery machine, not the air, and recover residual charge from scrapped equipment before it leaves site.
Charges a zeotropic blend such as R-407C as a vapour from the top of the cylinder.
Single-component refrigerants can be vapour charged, and candidates generalise from that experience; the cylinder label's warning about liquid charging is easy to overlook.
What to do instead
Charge blends as liquid - use a dip tube or invert the cylinder and throttle liquid into the suction line through a throttling valve so it vaporises before reaching the compressor. Remember the same property means a leaking blend leaves a different composition behind, so a system with a leak needs the whole charge re-evaluated, not just topped up.
Pressure tests with refrigerant or with oxygen, or 'leak checks' by pulling a vacuum and watching the gauge for a few minutes.
Refrigerant is at hand and shows a pressure quickly, and a vacuum gauge does move when there is a leak - the fact that it moves for moisture and outgassing as well is forgotten.
What to do instead
Pressure test with dry nitrogen only, never oxygen or refrigerant, and follow it with a standing vacuum decay test (isolate the pump and confirm the vacuum holds). Treat vacuum as a dryness/containment check, not a substitute for a pressure test; braze under nitrogen purge.
Answers environmental questions by saying HFCs such as R-410A 'damage the ozone layer', or uses ODP and GWP as if they were the same number.
The whole subject is taught under one 'ozone and F-gas' heading, and the two descriptors sit side by side in tables, so they blur into a single idea.
What to do instead
Keep the two separate in your head: ODP is ozone depletion (HFCs and HFOs = 0; HCFC-22 ≈ 0.055), GWP is climate forcing over 100 years (R-410A ≈ 2088, R-404A ≈ 4000). Practise stating, for a named gas, both values and which regulation the gas falls under.
Treats the CO2e figure as a formality and cannot say roughly what a small leak means - e.g. has no sense that a few kilograms of a high-GWP gas equals several tonnes of CO2.
Candidates memorise GWP numbers as data to be recited rather than as multipliers they will use, and rarely do the arithmetic without a calculator.
What to do instead
Build an order-of-magnitude feel with two anchor sums you can do in your head: 1 kg of R-404A ≈ 4 tCO2e; 1 kg of R-32 ≈ 0.7 tCO2e. Then state impact comparatively - 'this 10 kg charge is roughly the annual emissions of a couple of cars' - and always show the kg × GWP ÷ 1000 line in your answer.
Cannot state the servicing restrictions - assumes any certified technician may keep topping up any existing system with any F-gas.
The phase-down is remembered as a vague 'HFCs are being banned', and the specific date/threshold/GWP combination that governs servicing is never pinned down.
What to do instead
Memorise the specific rule: since 1 January 2020, F-gases with GWP ≥2500 cannot be used to service or maintain refrigeration equipment with a charge ≥40 tCO2e, with an exemption allowing reclaimed or recycled gas of that GWP until 1 January 2030. Below 40 tCO2e the servicing restriction does not bite, but the leak-check and record duties still do.
Talks only about what the technician must do and never mentions the operator's legal duties, the retention period, or who the competent authority is in Ireland.
Candidates study from the point of view of the person holding the gauges, so obligations are attached to the task rather than to the party the regulation actually addresses.
What to do instead
Separate the two roles explicitly: the operator must ensure checks are done by certified personnel, keep records for 5 years, and act on a detected leak; the certified technician performs and documents the work. Name the EPA as the competent authority in Ireland that can request those records.