F-gas debate heats up with fresh concerns about DIY R134a kits

DEFRA lawyers say sales for DIY air con servicing can continue without certification or verification

F-gas debate heats up with fresh concerns about DIY R134a kits
DIY R134a kits do not require a recovery qualification for their purchase.

Concerns about DIY R134a refrigerant products for mobile air conditioning (MAC) units, such as those found in passenger vehicles, has put the validity of the latest F-gas regulation document deeper into question.

Explaining the amendment, a DEFRA spokesperson has said: “As the only qualification within the MAC sector related to recovery, this is what was requested by suppliers.”

The original regulation followed the advice of the European Commission that suppliers of F-gas for servicing MAC were required to obtain evidence of certification when selling.

Law interpretation

However, DEFRA claim suppliers of DIY R134a MAC refill cans questioned the Commission’s interpretation.

“DEFRA lawyers examined the regulation in detail and concluded that as certification and training attestations are only needed in relation to recovery and not servicing, then sales for servicing could actually continue without certification or attestation,” DEFRA has said.

The latest interpretations mean that DIY R134a ‘kits’ that are sold in retail outlets do not require a qualification for their purchase because they do not recover gas.

James McClean, managing director of MotorClimate and CompressorTech, told GW that this has made a “complete mockery” of the original ruling.

Mr McClean said: “It seems we’ve now got ‘DEFRA lawyers’ interpreting regulation text in a way that runs contrary to the entire purpose of the legislation.

“The MAC sector amendments have been written by individuals with little or no experience of how vehicle air conditioning systems are serviced.”

He argues that F-Gas directives from as early as 2006 are concerned with the reduction of F-gas sales and the reduction of spillage and leakage.

Mixed messages

Documents released to motor factors and technicians earlier this year detailed the requirement for end-user qualifications and the need for factors to log these details as part of the 2014 No 517 EC F-Gas regulations.

However, last month’s document states that F-gas restrictions do not apply for the servicing of Mobile Air-Conditioning (MAC) systems.

Commenting on GW, Gary Jones said: “[It] means less customers for us doing the job properly, and more gas for the atmosphere.

“The only reason they buy the canisters is because the gas has leaked out, so where do DEFRA and the agency think the new gas is going to go?

“It’s certainly not going to stay in the system until the leak is repaired.”

Another GW reader, David Dawson of the Car Doctor, wrote: “We are a small independent workshop and invested fortunes in training and equipment, the cowboys win again.

“You cannot correctly service or repair air-con systems without recovery.

“I’m feeling a bit miffed as we could have put the cost of certification to better use.”

Mr McClean said that DIY repairers are now “free to pollute the planet and vent harmful R134a refrigerant into the environment.

“Issuing the Industry EU December 2014 F-Gas record keeping and F-gas qualification criteria and nearly 12 months later, creating an exception for the sale and instalment of F-gas in the retail and DIY marketplace begs belief.”

Share your concerns about DIY F-gas products and let us know what you think about DEFRA’s latest regulation interpretation – please leave your comments below.

16 Comments

  1. After paying out yet again to put my technicians through F gas training as they were about to expire. It makes a mockery of yet more rules & regulations garages who try to do it correctly get hit with. Its about time vehicle repairs can only be carried out by qualified people as per gas fitters & electricians .

    Reply
    • Agreed. DIY repairs to cars can be dangerous never mind the air con. ANYONE can carry our a ‘repair’ to a vehicle regardless of how little knowledge or training the had or have not and these vehicle could be on the road until the next MOT spots any defect. It should be made illegal for any unqualified person to carry out repairs to any vehicle unless it is immediately taken to have a certificate issued by a qulified person that the repair is safe or undergo an immediate MOT.

      Reply
  2. After paying out yet again to put my technicians through F gas training as they were about to expire. It makes a mockery of yet more rules & regulations garages who try to do it correctly get hit with. Its about time vehicle repairs can only be carried out by qualified people as per gas fitters & electricians .

    Reply
    • Agreed. DIY repairs to cars can be dangerous never mind the air con. ANYONE can carry our a ‘repair’ to a vehicle regardless of how little knowledge or training the had or have not and these vehicle could be on the road until the next MOT spots any defect. It should be made illegal for any unqualified person to carry out repairs to any vehicle unless it is immediately taken to have a certificate issued by a qulified person that the repair is safe or undergo an immediate MOT.

      Reply
  3. Yet again the garages that are trying to do it the right way are penalised, and the cowboys win, having complained to our local coucil about garages not having certification and not using nitrogen to test with, after i spent £1000 getting my guys qualified. The council knew nothing of the regulations so i asked DEFRA who referred me back to the council.
    The whole thing is a complete sham by the governement, just as bad as the new computerised MOT system. Somebody in power need to wake up to the whole motor trade and start sorting the job out.

    Reply
  4. Yet again the garages that are trying to do it the right way are penalised, and the cowboys win, having complained to our local coucil about garages not having certification and not using nitrogen to test with, after i spent £1000 getting my guys qualified. The council knew nothing of the regulations so i asked DEFRA who referred me back to the council.
    The whole thing is a complete sham by the governement, just as bad as the new computerised MOT system. Somebody in power need to wake up to the whole motor trade and start sorting the job out.

    Reply
  5. What a crock, if you can’t recover you can’t vacuum meaning adding 1lbs cans and guessing what’s going on isn’t going to work, it never worked in US, the amount of cars came in after owners went to Rose Autos, NAPA, PEP Boys still came in to get it done properly..!
    Buy a can and just let it off in the air for no reason..!

    Reply
  6. What a crock, if you can’t recover you can’t vacuum meaning adding 1lbs cans and guessing what’s going on isn’t going to work, it never worked in US, the amount of cars came in after owners went to Rose Autos, NAPA, PEP Boys still came in to get it done properly..!
    Buy a can and just let it off in the air for no reason..!

    Reply
  7. We had a customer who came last Month
    COMPLAINING he had been buying a recharge kit every 3 weeks for 3 MONTHS and he still a problem . Which we found a leaking condenser , SO WORK IT OUT ,
    HE Bought 4 may be 5 kits and expelled them to the Atmosphere , How many others do this ???

    Reply
  8. We had a customer who came last Month
    COMPLAINING he had been buying a recharge kit every 3 weeks for 3 MONTHS and he still a problem . Which we found a leaking condenser , SO WORK IT OUT ,
    HE Bought 4 may be 5 kits and expelled them to the Atmosphere , How many others do this ???

    Reply
  9. What about the Environmental Protection Act 1990 that certificated
    air con mechanics have to abide by,does this act not apply to the
    general public as well?
    I think you will find it is illegal to treat,keep,or dispose of a controlled
    substance,that can cause harm to human health or the environment.
    Time to stop the sale of these top up a/c containers to the public,and let
    us qualified technicians do our job legally as we were trained for.

    Reply
  10. What about the Environmental Protection Act 1990 that certificated
    air con mechanics have to abide by,does this act not apply to the
    general public as well?
    I think you will find it is illegal to treat,keep,or dispose of a controlled
    substance,that can cause harm to human health or the environment.
    Time to stop the sale of these top up a/c containers to the public,and let
    us qualified technicians do our job legally as we were trained for.

    Reply
  11. Another fairly typical case of regulations being written by people with no knowledge of what they’re regulating! Put this one up alongside the fact that I pay to have old oil filters collected but a non-trade person (or more likely someone who pretends to be non-trade!) can just toss his in the bin for a normal weekly collection.

    Reply
  12. Another fairly typical case of regulations being written by people with no knowledge of what they’re regulating! Put this one up alongside the fact that I pay to have old oil filters collected but a non-trade person (or more likely someone who pretends to be non-trade!) can just toss his in the bin for a normal weekly collection.

    Reply
  13. I agree with ALL the comments above, the cost of equipment, training and continued education to keep up with current systems is expensive for us that do the job right. I must admit though that I am never amazed anymore what Governments and legal people dream up, lets be very honest about this, they read books written from around the world that don’t provide real world experience, yes they have an answer for everything, but lack the most important points, those being common sense and working class experience. I mean how do you dream up bul**it like its legal to sell refrigerant over the counter in a pressurized can to fill a system that there is no element of doubt that the refrigerant has leaked out, either naturally over time or has developed a leak, which legally must be repaired before refilling, yes it is a legal criteria that a system must not be filled knowing it has a leak. But that is not a problem either because the market are legal to sell air con stop leaks, these stop leaks cause damage to our air con equipment so we have to spend yet more money buying special filters and equipment to detect these additives before we professionals can test and service air con systems. Time for the trade to regulate itself I think.

    Reply
  14. I agree with ALL the comments above, the cost of equipment, training and continued education to keep up with current systems is expensive for us that do the job right. I must admit though that I am never amazed anymore what Governments and legal people dream up, lets be very honest about this, they read books written from around the world that don’t provide real world experience, yes they have an answer for everything, but lack the most important points, those being common sense and working class experience. I mean how do you dream up bul**it like its legal to sell refrigerant over the counter in a pressurized can to fill a system that there is no element of doubt that the refrigerant has leaked out, either naturally over time or has developed a leak, which legally must be repaired before refilling, yes it is a legal criteria that a system must not be filled knowing it has a leak. But that is not a problem either because the market are legal to sell air con stop leaks, these stop leaks cause damage to our air con equipment so we have to spend yet more money buying special filters and equipment to detect these additives before we professionals can test and service air con systems. Time for the trade to regulate itself I think.

    Reply

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