EPA 608: Lessons & Preparation Route
Short lessons, worked examples, and practice that connects.
Certification and appliance boundaries
Classify the appliance before selecting a certification. Type I, II and III have different equipment scopes.
Venting, recovery and ownership
Recovered refrigerant may be returned to equipment under the same ownership; transfer to another owner requires reclamation by an EPA-certified reclaimer.
Evidence and certification records
Technicians keep certification evidence at the business through three years after ceasing technician operations; EPA does not generally require carrying the card at every service call.
Recognizing small appliances
A small appliance is fully manufactured, charged and hermetically sealed in a factory with five pounds or less of refrigerant. Both the construction definition and charge condition matter; small-looking equipment alone does not qualify.
Small-appliance recovery decisions
The small-appliance percentage target is 80% with pre-November-15-1993 recovery equipment or a nonfunctional compressor; 90% applies with later equipment and a functional compressor.
Following the disposal chain
The final person in the disposal chain must ensure refrigerant recovery before final disposal; a documented prior recovery can satisfy the chain requirement.
High- and medium-pressure evacuation
Select pressure category, the less-than-200 versus at-least-200 full-charge row, then the recovery-equipment date column.
ODS leak-repair triggers
For Section 608 ODS leak repair, a full charge of at least 50 lb and an annual leak rate exceeding the applicable category trigger are relevant; category triggers are 10%,20%,30%.
Service exceptions and oil
The limited exception for a non-major repair not followed by evacuation to the environment requires high- or very-high-pressure equipment to reach 0 psig before opening.
Low-pressure evacuation and units
EPA lists 25 mm Hg absolute for the general low-pressure appliance evacuation target, in both recovery-equipment date columns.
Low-pressure repair planning
For the limited non-major low-pressure repair exception not followed by evacuation to the environment, pressurize to 0 psig before opening; prohibited subsequent-purge methods are not generally allowed.
Chiller records and lifecycle decisions
For covered large ODS appliances, the customer receives refrigerant-added records and required inspection/verification documentation with dates, methods, locations andresults.
Selected Core, Type I, Type II and Type III written-knowledge foundations; not complete official examination coverage.