What a technician must record and hand over

After adding or removing refrigerant

Persons adding or removing refrigerant must, on conclusion of the installation, service, repair or disposal, provide the owner or operator with documentation that meets the service-record requirements (84.106(b)). When the work is done by someone other than the owner, the record handed over must carry the appliance and its location, the date, the parts installed, serviced, repaired or disposed of, the type of work on each, the name of the person who did it, and the amount and type of refrigerant added or removed (84.106(l)(4)).

The owner then adds two things to make it the full service record: the full charge, and the leak rate with the method used (84.106(l)(2)). Both are arithmetic on numbers the technician wrote down and one number the owner already has on file, so a ticket that carries the full charge and the previous addition's date can carry the leak rate too, computed on the spot. The calculator does it from the truck.

After a leak inspection

A leak inspection is conducted by a certified technician using methods the technician determines are appropriate (84.106(g)(2)), on all visible and accessible components with the exceptions the rule lists (84.106(g)(3)). The record the technician provides on conclusion of the service carries the date, the methods used, the location of every leak identified, and a certification that all visible and accessible parts were inspected (84.106(l)(5)). An appliance that has exceeded its leak rate is inspected once a year after a successful follow-up test, or quarterly at 500 pounds and above in refrigeration, until the calculations show it under the limit (84.106(g)(1)).

After a repair: two tests, two records

A repair of a leak above the limit is made by a certified technician within 30 days of the addition that exceeded it (84.106(c)(1), (d)). It is documented by an initial verification test after the repair and before refrigerant is added back, and a follow-up test within 10 days of a successful initial test at normal operating conditions (84.106(e)). The technician conducting each test provides the owner with its date, the location of the repaired leaks tested, the type of test and the result (84.106(l)(7)). The follow-up test is the record that stops the clock and starts the inspection schedule.

One ticket, three moments

The three records share most of their fields: the appliance, the date, the technician. A service ticket with a line for what happened (added, inspected, repaired, tested), the refrigerant in pounds and ounces where it applies, the technician's 608 number, and the leak rate where the entry is an addition, meets all three paragraphs on one sheet. The ledger prints one per visit with a cut-here border and an attribution line, and the owner opens the same record by link; the contractor page walks the office side.

One sheet for the owner

The customer with three covered appliances did not know the rule existed until the visit. One Letter page in the rule's words explains why the visit ended with a record and what they keep: hand this to your customer, as a page and as a PDF.

What this page is not

Advice on how to service an appliance, or a statement that any technician or job is in compliance. It says what the paragraphs require to be written down and handed over, and links each one. The ledger records and computes; it certifies nothing.

Common questions

Does the technician calculate the leak rate?

The owner or operator must calculate it (84.106(b)), and the technician must hand over the documentation that makes the calculation possible: the amount added, the date, the appliance. In practice the technician on site is the one who has the previous addition's date in front of them, which is why the ledger computes the rate when the addition is logged and puts it on the ticket.

Who must be certified?

Repairs of leaks above the limit must be made by a certified technician (84.106(c)(1)), and the leak inspection that locates them is conducted by a certified technician (84.106(g)(2)). Certification here means the section 608 technician certification the older rule established.

What if the owner does not want the paperwork?

The rule puts the obligation on the person doing the work to provide it (84.106(l)(4)) and on the owner to keep it (84.106(l)). A ticket handed over and declined is still handed over; a contractor who keeps a copy can show that it was.