State overlay · 6 NYCRR Part 494
New York on top of the 15-pound rule
Sections read · 2026-09-11The federal rule is the floor everywhere. New York runs its own programme, the Part 494, Subpart 494-2, refrigerant management, and it reaches lower, sooner or harder in the places below. Commercial stationary refrigeration or air conditioning equipment with a charge capacity of 50 pounds or more of a regulated substance. Every line names the section it was read from and the date; nothing here is advice, and nothing here says whether any system is in compliance.
What the state adds, beside the federal floor
15 pounds or more of an HFC or a substitute with a GWP above 53; residential and light commercial air conditioning excluded.
50 pounds or more of a regulated substance, commercial stationary refrigeration or air conditioning (6 NYCRR 494-2.1).
Calculated on every addition; 20 percent commercial refrigeration, 30 industrial process, 10 comfort cooling and other, annualized.
Leak rates are reported annually (6 NYCRR 494-2.6); every detected leak is repaired on the 14-day clock (494-2.4).
30 days from the addition that exceeded the rate (120 with an industrial process shutdown), then two verification tests.
14 days from detection; 45 or 120 in the named cases; an initial and a follow-up verification test (6 NYCRR 494-2.4).
After an exceedance: yearly under 500 pounds, quarterly at 500 pounds and above in refrigeration, until the rate is back under the limit.
On a schedule by size: monthly or automatic detection at 1,500 and above, quarterly at 200 to 1,499, annually at 50 to 199 (6 NYCRR 494-2.3).
Only the chronic-leak report: 125 percent of full charge in a calendar year, to the EPA by March 1.
Registration phased in by size from June 1, 2025, and an annual report by March 31, large equipment first (6 NYCRR 494-2.2, 494-2.6).
Three years, paper or electronic; the appliance record until three years after retirement.
Five years, at the facility, provided within 90 days of a request (6 NYCRR 494-2.7).
The New York entries, in the rule's words
The refrigerant management subpart applies to the owner or operator of commercial stationary refrigeration or air conditioning equipment with a refrigerant charge capacity of 50 pounds or more of a regulated substance, and to supermarket chains as the Part defines them.
Equipment of 1,500 pounds or more installed before June 1, 2025 registers by that date; 200 to 1,499 pounds by June 1, 2026; 50 to 199 pounds by June 1, 2028; new equipment by June 1 of the calendar year after it is installed. Registration carries the facility and equipment details and a label on the equipment.
Refrigeration equipment of 1,500 pounds or more is inspected monthly, replaced by an automatic leak detection system on or before June 1, 2025; air conditioning of 1,500 pounds or more monthly or by an automatic system; 200 to 1,499 pounds quarterly or by an automatic system; 50 to 199 pounds annually or by an automatic system. Inspections use a calibrated device with 10 parts per million sensitivity; an automatic system alerts at 100 parts per million.
A leak must be repaired by a certified technician within 14 days of its detection; 45 days where a certified technician or the parts are unavailable with written documentation or an industrial process shutdown is required; up to 120 days for industrial process refrigeration when manufacturing must stop. An initial verification test follows completion of the repair (the section sets 30 days; 120 for industrial process refrigeration) and a follow-up test within 10 days of normal operating conditions. A leak that continues means another repair within the same period or a retrofit or retirement plan under 494-2.5.
An annual report for the previous calendar year, large equipment first by March 31, 2026 and medium equipment by March 31, 2027: the equipment information, the service and leak repair information with leak rates and inspection, detection and repair dates, regulated substance purchases and use, and updated registration information.
Registration information, leak inspections with the dates and locations of leaks found, service and repair records naming the person who did the work, retrofit or retirement plans, reports, variance decisions, purchase invoices and reclamation or destruction shipment records are kept five years at the facility and provided within 90 days of a request.
Source read: www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/new-york/6-NYCRR-494-2.1. The sources page lists every entry with its read date.
The free door
The federal arithmetic runs underneath every state programme. Leak rate calculator for the annualizing method on your numbers, and the four criteria for whether the federal rule reaches an appliance at all.
The other overlays
Three states run programmes of their own today. A state that starts one is added when its text is read.
Wuzler records and computes; it certifies nothing, and a state programme's registration, fees and reports are filed with the state, never here.