Refrigerant Leak Settings
Under the Refrigerant Leak Settings section, you can configure the following settings:
- Refrigeration thresholds
- Trigger leak rates
- Units of measurement
- Calculation methods
- PM priority
- Leak inspection NTE
- Creation of follow-up work orders
- Refrigerant tracking for all or specific locations
- Navigate to the hamburger menu > Assets (Equipment) > Administration.
- Switch to the Refrigerant Leak Settings section.
Leak Rate Thresholds
The next part of the process is to set the Leak Rate Threshold for all of your refrigerated asset types. The rate that you set must be in compliance with local, regional, and national laws. Check your local environmental agency for additional information. The thresholds that you set for each of the four types of refrigerated assets will be the same for all assets in that asset type.
- Navigate to the hamburger menu > Assets (Equipment) > Administration.
- Switch to the Refrigerant Leak Settings section.
- Set a leak threshold for each of the Asset Type that you operate:
- Commercial Refrigeration
- Industrial Refrigeration
- Air Conditioning
All Other Appliances
Use the slider or the field to set the leak thresholds.
- Click the Save button at the bottom of the page to complete the process or move on to the next section.
When your refrigerated or HVAC equipment is leaking and the leak rate meets or exceeds the specified threshold, the system will create a leak record.
Trigger Rates
The following trigger leak rates apply for a 12-month period:
Application Type | Leak Rate Effective 1/1/2019 |
Industrial Process Refrigeration | 30% |
Commercial Refrigeration | 20% |
Comfort Cooling | 10% |
All Other Appliances | 10% |
Calculation Methods
EPA outlines four acceptable methods that can be used either individually or in combination to assets full charge:
- Equipment manufacturers’ determination
- Calculations based on component sizes, refrigerant density, volume of piping, and other considerations
- Actual measurements of the amount of refrigerant added or evacuated from the appliance
- Use of an established range based on the best available data. This method requires you to document how you determined the full charge
The full charge is necessary to determine the leak rate. For commercial refrigeration equipment, EPA says the trigger leak rate for a 12-month period is 35 percent of the full charge. According to the latest rule, there are two acceptable methods for calculating leak rate:
- Annualizing
- Rolling average
However, the equipment owner must select and consistently use only one method over the lifetime of all the appliances located at a facility.
Annualized Method
Check the formula below to see how leak rates are calculated when you use the annualized calculation method.
Number of days between refrigerant additions — the number of days that have passed since the last time the refrigerant was added to the system. The maximum number of days that you can use is 365.
If there were no additions in the past except for the initial charge addition, the system counts the number of days that passed since the initial charge.
Let’s say you have a refrigeration system with the total charge of 500 lbs. As a result of a leak, 150 lbs gets lost. On March 6, 2021, a technician adds 150 lbs of refrigerant to fix the leak. The previous time refrigerant was added to the system was on January 11, 2021. Thus, 54 days passed between these two refrigerant additions.
| Total charge of the system | 500 lbs |
| Amount of the refrigerant added | 150 lbs |
| Previous time the refrigerant was added to the system | January 11, 2021 |
| Date when the latest charge was added to the system | March 6, 2021 |
| Number of days between the two refrigerant additions | 54 days |
Rolling Average
Check the formula below to see how leak rates are calculated when you use the rolling average calculation method.
* Instead of qty of refrigerant added over the past 365 days, there can be qty of refrigerant added since the last successful follow-up verification test showing that all identified leaks were repaired — if the period is less than one year.
** The current full charge of the asset at the time of the part use.
Let’s say you have a refrigeration system with the total charge of 500 lbs. As a result of a leak, 150 lbs got lost. On March 6, 2021, a technician adds 150 lbs of refrigerant to fix the leak, which is the only refrigerant addition to the system over the past year.
| Total charge of the system | 500 lbs |
| Amount of the refrigerant added | 150 lbs |
Whenever the leak rate meets or exceeds the leak rate threshold you set for each refrigerant use purpose (Commercial Refrigeration, Industrial Refrigeration, Air Conditioning, or All Other Appliances), the system generates a leak record, also known as leak event. Learn more about Refrigerant Leak Events.
- Navigate to the hamburger menu > Assets (Equipment) > Administration.
- Switch to the Refrigerant Leak Settings section.
- Check the radio button next to the desired Calculation Method:
- Annualized
- Rolling Average
- Click the Save button at the bottom of the page to complete the process or move on to the next section.
Units of Measure
It is possible to choose between three different units of measurement when tracking refrigerants:
- Pounds and decimals of pounds
- Pounds and ounces
Kilograms and grams
Contact your Customer Success Manager should you want to track refrigerant usage in kilograms and grams.
These options provide greater flexibility and compatibility to existing systems.
Note: The option chosen will be for all assets.
- Navigate to the hamburger menu > Assets (Equipment) > Administration.
- Switch to the Refrigerant Leak Settings section.
- Check the radio button next to the desired Unit of Measure.
- Click the Save button at the bottom of the page to complete the process or move on to the next section.
Note: The selection you make will take place in real time. Refresh your browser before you attempt to load any inventory. It will ensure that the selection has been recognized throughout Service Automation.
Refrigeration PM Priority
The Refrigeration PM Priority sets the priority assigned to all automatically generated Leak Inspection and Leak Detector Planned Maintenance Work Orders. Whenever a refrigerated asset has been repaired following a leak event, subsequent follow-up inspections are required to ensure the leak has been adequately repaired. The number of inspections required is dependent on the amount of refrigerant the asset holds. By setting all follow-up leak inspection work orders to the Refrigeration PM Priority, you will have an additional tool for monitoring your refrigerated assets. By default, the Refrigeration PM Priority is set to PM Leak Inspection.
- Navigate to the hamburger menu > Assets (Equipment) > Administration.
- Switch to the Refrigerant Leak Settings section.
- By default, the Refrigeration PM Priority is set to PM Leak Inspection.
You can select a different priority from the drop-down list. These are work order priorities that you configured in the Admin module.
- Click the Save button at the bottom of the page to complete the process or move on to the next section.
Run CARB Report
Subscribers who operate refrigerated assets in the state of California are required to submit an annual report. The CARB report is automatically generated from information contained within ServiceChannel.
By selecting the Run CARB Report checkbox, the report will run once the user triggers the report from the Asset Manager module. Before running the CARB report, users must identify which assets are to be included in the report. This is done in the Asset Manager module. See CARB Reporting for more information.
PM Leak Inspection NTE
The PM Leak Inspection NTE sets the maximum rate that can be charged for an inspection of this type. When an administrator sets this rate, it is applied to all future PM leak inspections.
- Navigate to the hamburger menu > Assets (Equipment) > Administration.
- Switch to the Refrigerant Leak Settings section.
- Enter the not-to-exceed (NTE) amount in the text field. Use decimals as appropriate. This NTE amount will be used on your PM leak inspection work orders.
- Click the Save button at the bottom of the page to complete the process or move on to the next section.
Follow-Up Work Order
You can specify whether or not a follow-up work order should be automatically created after the original service request is completed with the associated leak record left open.
To allow creating follow-ups:
1. Select the Open Leak option from the drop-down menu.
2. Click Save at the bottom of the page.
Once a work order is moved to the Completed status while the associated leak record stays open, a follow-up request gets created and dispatched to the provider so that they can repair the leak and close the leak record. In the meantime, the provider can invoice the original service request.
To prevent creating follow-ups:
1. Pick Never from the drop-down menu.
2. Click Save at the bottom of the page.
Selecting this option ensures that no follow-ups get generated. Providers should first close leak records associated with work orders to be able to invoice them.
You also need to create a new Completed / Open Leak Record status in your admin settings.
When providers check out of a work order with a leak record left open and specify that they completed the requested service, the work order moves to the Completed / Open Leak Record status. The status signals that providers should go back to this work order to enter all the required leak record information before they can submit an invoice.
With an open leak record, the work order cannot be moved to the Completed, Completed / Confirmed, or Completed / Pending Confirmation status. After the leak record is completed, the work order status changes to Completed / Pending Confirmation.
Refrigerant Tracking by Location
Decide whether refrigerant tracking should happen across all of your locations or only at those where it’s required.
- For specific locations. Should you want to track refrigerant usage only at the locations where you have assets containing ozone-depleting refrigerants, the ServiceChannel team can activate refrigerant tracking only for these locations. For locations where there is no equipment with substances that are required to be tracked, the refrigerant tracking process can be deactivated.
Turning off refrigerant tracking for a location implies that providers are not prompted to record information on refrigerants they use while servicing refrigeration or HVAC assets at the location.
- For all locations. You may need to track refrigerant usage across all of your locations regardless of refrigerant types and quantities contained in assets at these locations.
- Contact your ServiceChannel representative, and ask them to
- Include all your locations in the refrigerant tracking flow or
- Include only specific locations. Specify which locations are required to be tracked for compliance. Also, indicate the maximum number of locations that can be licensed to use refrigerant tracking.
Once the ServiceChannel team configures this for you, the Refrigerant Leak Settings page will display for what locations the refrigerant tracking process is on:
- All Locations
- Limited Locations
You cannot edit this field yourself. To add more locations, exclude a location, or make any other change, reach out to ServiceChannel to get it done.