Guide · chronic leaks · 40 CFR 84.106(j)
The chronic-leak report due 1 March
Published · 2026-09-08Published 2026-09-08 · by the Wuzler team · sections verified 2026-09-04
Most of the rule is records you keep. One part is a report you send: an appliance that leaks 125 percent or more of its full charge in a calendar year goes to the EPA by 1 March of the next year. This page is the threshold, the twelve items the report must carry, and the entries in your own records that answer them.
The threshold
Owners or operators of refrigerant-containing appliances containing 15 or more pounds of refrigerant that leak 125 percent or more of the full charge in a calendar year must submit a report to the EPA by 1 March of the subsequent year (84.106(j)). The test is a sum, not a rate: every pound added in the year, against the full charge.
42.0 lb walk-in, 4.0 + 9.5 = 13.5 lb added in 2026 → 32% of charge → no report
42.0 lb walk-in, 20 + 20 + 15 = 55 lb added in 2026 → 131% of charge → report due 2027-03-01
The second appliance may have passed its leak-rate test on each addition if the additions were spread across the year; the chronic test does not care. A box that needs its whole charge again by autumn is a box the rule wants named.
What the report carries
The rule lists twelve items (84.106(m)(4)):
- the owner or operator, the facility name and address, and the appliance identification or description
- the appliance type: comfort cooling or other, industrial process refrigeration, or commercial refrigeration
- the refrigerant type
- the full charge of the appliance, in pounds
- the annual percent refrigerant loss
- the dates of refrigerant addition
- the amounts of refrigerant added
- the date of the last successful follow-up verification test
- an explanation of the cause of the refrigerant losses
- a description of the repair actions taken
- whether a retrofit or retirement plan has been developed, and if so the anticipated date
- a signed statement from an authorized company official
Where each item comes from
Nine of the twelve are already in the records the rule makes you keep. The appliance, its type, the refrigerant and the full charge are the appliance card (84.106(l)(1)). The dates and amounts of every addition are the service records (84.106(l)(2)), and the annual percent loss is their sum against the full charge. The last successful follow-up test is in the verification records (84.106(l)(7)). The cause, the repairs and the plan come from the repair entries and, if there is one, the retrofit or retirement plan (84.106(h)). Only the signed statement is written fresh.
That is the argument for keeping the records as records rather than as a folder of tickets: on 1 February the report is a query rather than a reconstruction. The ledger sums a year's additions on every appliance card and marks the threshold; the records guide lists everything the card holds.
What this page is not
The form, or advice on filing it. The EPA's reporting platform and its instructions are the EPA's. This page states what 84.106(j) and (m)(4) require and where in your own records each item lives, and the ledger keeps those records; it certifies nothing and files nothing.
Common questions
- Is 125 percent a leak rate?
- No. The leak rate limits in 84.106(c) are annualized rates that trigger repair. The chronic-leak threshold in 84.106(j) is the plain sum of refrigerant added in a calendar year, as a share of full charge, with no annualizing. An appliance can be under its leak rate on every addition and still cross 125 percent in a year if it is topped up often.
- Where is the report filed?
- Electronically, using the EPA's applicable reporting platform (84.106(m)). This page does not name a platform because the rule text does not; the EPA's own pages do.
- What if the appliance was retired mid-year?
- The threshold is what was added in the calendar year against the full charge; the rule text this page rests on does not carve out a retired appliance. Read 84.106(j) and (m)(4) and, if it matters to you, ask the EPA.
The tool that does the work
Leak rate calculator. Free, no signup, nothing stored.
What this page rests on
Each entry is from the rules library, with the section, the requirement in the library's words and the date the section text was read. The sources page lists them all.
An appliance containing 15 or more pounds that leaks 125 percent or more of its full charge in a calendar year must be reported to the EPA by March 1 of the following year.
For each installation, service, repair or disposal: the appliance and its location, the date, the parts worked on, the type of work, the name of the person who did it, the amount and type of refrigerant added or removed, the full charge, and the leak rate and the method used.
Records of the dates and results of every initial and follow-up verification test, the repaired leaks tested, and the test methods; the technician provides this documentation on conclusion of the service.
A retrofit or retirement plan must be created within 30 days when the owner or operator elects not to repair, takes no action, or repairs fail to bring the rate under the limit; the work must be finished within one year of the plan's date.
All leak repair records must be kept for at least three years, in electronic or paper format. Appliance records are kept until three years after the appliance is retired.
84.106(j), (m)(4); 84.106(l)(2); 84.106(l)(7); 84.106(h)(1), (h)(5)(i); 84.106(l), (l)(1) · verified 2026-09-04 · information with its sources, never advice; the product records and computes and certifies nothing