Refrigerant Leak Repair: Which EPA Rule Applies?
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At a glance
Two federal leak-repair rules exist, not one: 40 CFR 82.157 covers ozone-depleting refrigerants at 50+ pounds, and the 2024 AIM Act rule covers HFCs at 15+ pounds, but excludes residential and light-commercial air conditioning and heat pumps outright.
On this page
"Leak repair" isn't one rule with one threshold. EPA runs two separate leak-repair programs, built for two different families of refrigerant, and a given appliance can fall under one, the other, or neither. Which applies comes down to two facts about the appliance: what refrigerant is in it, and how many pounds of full charge it holds.
Section 608's leak-repair rule: ozone-depleting refrigerants
40 CFR 82.157 is the older of the two rules, written for the class I and class II refrigerants Section 608 already regulates — the CFCs and HCFCs, R-22 among them, being phased out under the Montreal Protocol. Since April 2020 it has carried a floor: it reaches an appliance only once its full charge is 50 pounds or more of a class I or class II refrigerant, and not before. Below that weight, the rule doesn't reach the appliance at all, regardless of how badly it leaks.
The rule also draws a hard line around what it covers by refrigerant type: a substitute refrigerant — anything that replaced a class I or class II gas — falls outside its reach entirely, even on an appliance that would otherwise qualify by weight. R-410A, R-32, R-454B and R-134a all count as substitutes, so none of those four sit under 82.157, no matter their charge size. Where 82.157 does apply, its leak-rate thresholds are 20% for commercial refrigeration equipment, 30% for industrial process refrigeration equipment, and 10% for comfort cooling or other qualifying appliances.
The 2024 AIM Act rule: HFCs and high-GWP substitutes
The Emissions Reduction and Reclamation Program, finalized in 2024 under the AIM Act and taking effect January 1, 2026, was built for the refrigerants 82.157 leaves out. Its own fact sheet sets the floor: appliances with "a full charge of 15 pounds or more of a refrigerant that contains an HFC or a substitute for an HFC with a GWP greater than 53" must repair leaks down to an applicable threshold. That floor is a third of 82.157's, and the refrigerants it reaches — HFCs and their high-GWP substitutes — are exactly the ones 82.157's substitute-refrigerant exclusion rules out. Its own thresholds run lower too: 30% for industrial process refrigeration, 20% for commercial refrigeration, and 10% for comfort cooling, refrigerated transport, and other appliances not otherwise covered.
What neither rule reaches
Between a 50-pound floor on one side and an excluded sector on the other, a real gap opens up. EPA's own fact sheet draws that second boundary by name, carving homes' and light-commercial buildings' cooling and heat-pump equipment out of the 2024 rule entirely. A typical home central air conditioner or heat pump sits outside 82.157 because its refrigerant is a substitute, not a class I or class II gas, and outside the 2024 rule because EPA excluded that whole sector from it by name. Most homeowner-scale systems have no federal leak-repair mandate under either program.
Which rule applies
| Refrigerant | Full charge | Sector | Rule that applies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Class I or class II (e.g. R-22) | 50 lb or more | any | 40 CFR 82.157 |
| Class I or class II | under 50 lb | any | Neither |
| HFC or high-GWP substitute (e.g. R-410A, R-32, R-454B) | any | Residential / light-commercial AC or heat pump | Neither (excluded sector) |
| HFC or high-GWP substitute | 15 lb or more | Not residential / light-commercial AC or heat pump | 2024 AIM Act rule |
| HFC or high-GWP substitute | under 15 lb | any | Neither |
For R-22's own phase-out timeline and what it means for a leaking system, see R-22 and the HCFC phase-out. For what changed when EPA added R-454B and R-32 to its SNAP safety-class listing, see what EPA's listing changed. For what the same 2024 rule requires once a leak is actually repaired with reclaimed refrigerant, see recovery, reclaim and cylinders. To find a specific refrigerant's own chart, start at which PT chart do I need.