HVAC Exam Lab
Core and Type II

Leak rates and repair deadlines

Three percentages, one weight, two clocks.

Why this one catches people

Three different thresholds that look interchangeable, a charge size that gates whether any of it applies, and deadlines measured in days. Exam questions combine all four in one sentence.

33 questions in our bank map to this material, across 10 outline topics and 3 exam sections (Type I: Small Appliances: 3, Type II: High-Pressure Systems: 16, Type III: Low-Pressure Systems: 14).

When the rules apply at all

The leak repair requirements attach to appliances with a full charge of 50 or more pounds of any class I or class II refrigerant. Below that, the thresholds below do not bite.

The three thresholds

Equipment categoryLeak rate that triggers repair
Industrial process refrigeration30% of full charge per 12 months
Commercial refrigeration20% of full charge per 12 months
Comfort cooling and all other appliances10% of full charge per 12 months

A useful ordering: the more critical and harder to shut down the process is, the more leakage the rule tolerates. Industrial process gets 30%, commercial refrigeration 20%, and ordinary comfort cooling the strictest 10%.

The clocks

  • Repair: 30 days, or 120 days where an industrial process shutdown is required.
  • Follow-up verification test: within 10 days of a successful initial verification test, or of the appliance reaching normal operating characteristics and conditions.

All figures from 40 CFR 82.157. Note these are the Subpart F thresholds for class I and class II refrigerants, which is what the 608 exam covers. Separate AIM Act rules extend leak-repair obligations to HFCs; that material is not on the 608 blueprint and we keep it in a separate drill.

Where people go wrong

  • Mixing up which percentage goes with which category. Industrial process is the most permissive at 30%, comfort cooling the strictest at 10%.
  • Forgetting the requirements only bite at a full charge of 50 pounds or more.
  • Treating the leak rate as pounds lost rather than a percentage of full charge over 12 months.
  • Missing that the repair window stretches to 120 days only when an industrial process shutdown is needed.

Drill exactly this

33 questions in the bank cover this material. Anything you miss goes to your notebook so you can come back to it.

Quick practice drill

15 questions · 18 minutes · pass at 70%

Questions are sampled to mirror the official domain weighting. The timer starts when you begin; you can flag questions and return to them before submitting.

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