F-Gas leak checks for air conditioning and heat pumps

The law in Great Britain

Leak checks come from the F-Gas Regulation, Regulation (EU) No 517/2014 as it was kept in GB law after Brexit, together with the Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases Regulations 2015. The rules on this page are the ones in force in October 2026.

The duty falls on the operator: the person or business in actual control of how the equipment runs. For a home, that's the homeowner. For a business, it's usually the occupier. If you rent the equipment or the building, your agreement can decide who is responsible, so check it.

How often the law says to check

The interval depends on how much refrigerant the system holds, measured in tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e), not on its kW size. These are the maximum gaps between checks under Article 4.

Hermetically sealed equipment, labelled as such, is exempt below 10 tCO2e. A split system joined with pipework on site doesn't usually qualify.

What that means in kilograms

To turn kilograms into tCO2e, multiply the charge in kg by the refrigerant's GWP and divide by 1,000. The charge is on the outdoor unit label, plus any gas added on site for long pipe runs.

Most single wall units hold well under 5 tCO2e. Larger multi-splits, ducted and commercial systems, and older R410A systems, are the ones most often over the line.

What a leak check involves

We follow the standard leak checking requirements kept in GB law from Regulation (EC) No 1516/2007.

• Read the equipment records first, looking for past leaks and problem areas
• Check pipe joints and connections
• Check valves, including their spindles
• Check seals, including those on driers and filters
• Check parts that vibrate, and the connections to safety and control devices
• Look for oil marks, corrosion, damage, ice or poor cooling, which all suggest a leak
• Measure pressures and temperatures and compare them with normal running
• Confirm any suspected leak with an electronic detector that picks up at least 5 grams a year, or bubble solution
• Write up the date and result in the F-Gas record

If we find a leak

The operator must have the leak repaired without undue delay. For equipment that needs leak checks, a certified engineer must check the repair within one month to make sure it has worked.

We give you a written price for the repair first. Once it's done, we refill the system to the right weight, record the gas added and book the follow-up check. Our regas page explains how a repair and refill works.

Records you must keep

For every system that needs leak checks, the operator must keep records for at least five years. The engineer who services the system must keep copies too. The Environment Agency can ask to see them.

• The type and amount of refrigerant in the system
• Any refrigerant added, during installation, servicing or after a leak
• Whether any gas used was recycled or reclaimed, and where it came from
• Any refrigerant recovered
• The company that installed, serviced or repaired it, with its certificate number
• The date and result of every legal leak check
• If the system was taken out, how the gas was recovered and disposed of

Who can carry out a leak check

Leak checks on air conditioning and heat pumps must be done by a person with the right F-Gas qualification. It's against the law to work on F-Gas equipment without one, and breaking the leak check or repair rules can lead to a civil penalty.

Our engineers are F-Gas and REFCOM certified. We combine the leak check with the service visit where we can, so you have one visit and one record.

What it costs

Every service we carry out includes a check of the pipe joints for signs of a leak. Where a system needs a legal leak check, we do it on the same visit and price it with the service. Business sites with several systems are quoted after a survey, plus VAT.

• An annual service

  Keeps the manufacturer warranty valid

  from£119inc. VAT

• Each extra indoor unit

  Same visit

  from£59inc. VAT

F-Gas leak check questions