Building Air Conditioning · Homes & Businesses
F-Gas Inspections & Building AC Compliance
F-Gas inspections check building air conditioning for leaks where required by the refrigerant charge and applicable rules, with operator records and follow-up repair verification kept separate from routine cleaning.
Establish the equipment and operator duties
Identify the refrigerant, charge and system configuration from labels and records. The operator is the person or organisation with actual control over the equipment. Do not infer an obligation from cooling output or the physical size of an indoor unit.
Great Britain rules use tonnes of CO2 equivalent for fluorinated refrigerants; hermetically sealed equipment has specific conditions and exceptions. Northern Ireland requirements can differ. Consult the current official guidance for the relevant jurisdiction before setting the inspection schedule.
For applicable stationary equipment in Great Britain, checks are normally every 12 months at 5 to less than 50 tonnes CO2 equivalent, every 6 months at 50 to less than 500, and every 3 months at 500 or more. A qualifying leak-detection system can double those intervals; automatic detection is required at 500 tonnes or more. Labelled hermetically sealed equipment below 10 tonnes CO2 equivalent is exempt from these scheduled checks.
Inspection and leak diagnosis
Review logs, previous repairs and circuit joints, valves, pipework and accessible components. Use suitable instruments and a documented procedure; lack of a visible oily mark does not prove a circuit is tight. Identify access limitations and any follow-up work needed.
A discovered leak requires an appropriate repair plan. Recovery, circuit repair, pressure testing, evacuation and correct charging are covered by our building refrigerant service rather than an unexplained top-up.
Records and planned maintenance
Keep the equipment identity, refrigerant quantities, inspections, findings, repairs and required follow-up verification with the operator’s records. Coordinate visits with maintenance but distinguish a filter clean from a regulatory leak check.
Refrigerant work involving fluorinated gases requires appropriate personnel certification, and applicable business certification where required. Brand pages do not imply manufacturer authorisation. Send equipment records to help confirm the necessary scope.
Post-work verification and quotation
For equipment subject to the Great Britain requirements, leaks must be repaired without undue delay and checked by a certified person within one month of repair to verify effectiveness. Document the result and update the next due date under the applicable rules. A completed visit should identify outstanding defects and inaccessible areas.
All work is quoted on request. The scope depends on the equipment, fault, access, labour, parts and any refrigerant work. Diagnostic findings and the proposed repair should be agreed before additional work proceeds; a service visit is not a promise that every repair or replacement part is included.
Our central operation covers London and the South East/M25. For other UK regions, send the site postcode so coverage, equipment suitability and appointment availability can be confirmed before a visit is agreed.
Use the ServiceM8 booking form for an engineer or quotation with the site postcode, indoor and outdoor model references, fault description, controller code and access requirements. Select the requested urgency; emergency or within-48-hour selections are requests, not guaranteed attendance times. Refrigerant and electrical work require appropriately qualified personnel.
Operator responsibilities and jurisdiction-specific assessment
Identify the equipment operator, refrigerant, installed quantity and legal regime before planning inspections. The operator is the person or organisation exercising actual control over the technical functioning, not necessarily the service company attending the site. A comfort-maintenance visit does not remove the operator’s responsibilities. Great Britain and Northern Ireland can have different applicable F-Gas rules, so a UK enquiry should state the site jurisdiction; do not apply a GB threshold table automatically to Northern Ireland.
For the GB CO2-equivalent approach, multiply charge in kilograms by the refrigerant’s applicable GWP and divide by one thousand. Use the nameplate and documented additional charge rather than only the outdoor unit’s factory quantity. A multi-unit VRF circuit is assessed as the connected equipment, not by dividing its charge across indoor heads to avoid thresholds. Exemptions require the actual equipment and labelling to qualify; a site-assembled split should not be casually described as hermetically sealed.
Inspection methods and repairs rather than performance guesses
Review previous leak locations, recovered or added quantities and repair history. Inspect accessible joints, valves and components using suitable detection methods. Poor cooling alone is not a leak test: airflow, EEV behaviour, sensors, communication controls and compressor inverter faults can also affect performance. Conversely, acceptable comfort does not prove that a slow leak is absent. Plan access and operating conditions so checks are meaningful, noting any concealed sections that could not be examined.
If loss is found, define the repair and any required recovery before recommissioning. Coils, seals, service valves and replacement compressors must match the installed equipment and refrigerant. Daikin, Mitsubishi Electric, Toshiba and other listed manufacturers have model-specific pressure and charge requirements. Repairs are not completed by topping up repeatedly; use appropriate pressure testing, evacuation and measured charging, then carry out the required follow-up leak verification within the applicable legal window.
Records, post-work checks and inspection quote factors
Record equipment identity, refrigerant and quantity, leak-check dates and results, any recovered or added amounts, work undertaken and relevant personnel details as required. Keep operator records available and retain them for the legally required period. An installed automatic detection system changes inspection arrangements only where it qualifies and remains maintained; an ordinary building alarm or room-temperature alert is not equivalent refrigerant leak detection.
After repairs, record relevant pressures and temperature splits under known conditions, confirm airflow and drainage, and check operation of any specified refrigerant safety or detection provisions. These functional readings complement containment checks rather than replacing them. Costs are quoted on request according to circuit count, refrigerant records, access, inspection method and any identified remedial work. Use ServiceM8 with postcode, asset schedule, charge information and existing logbooks; qualifications and equipment suitability are confirmed for the scoped work without claiming manufacturer approval.
Frequently asked questions
Is a service visit automatically a leak inspection?
No. Cleaning and comfort checks differ from a legally required leak check; the inspection must be explicitly scoped and recorded.
How is CO2 equivalent calculated in GB?
Charge in kilograms multiplied by the refrigerant’s applicable GWP, divided by 1,000, gives tonnes CO2 equivalent. Include the actual installed additional charge.
Do the same rules apply everywhere in the UK?
Do not assume this. Great Britain and Northern Ireland can follow different applicable regimes; assess the site jurisdiction and current requirements.
Who is responsible for the records?
The operator must ensure required records and checks are maintained. A service agreement should clearly identify reporting and scheduling responsibilities.
Does good cooling prove there is no leak?
No. Performance and containment are different checks; slow refrigerant loss may exist before an obvious comfort failure.
What should I send for an inspection quote?
Use ServiceM8 with asset models, refrigerant and installed charge, site postcode, logbooks and access requirements. Repairs are scoped separately if needed.