We are attempting to satisfy option B (because we use HCFC refrigerants): The building fire suppression system does not contain CFCs, HCFCs or Halons and we are keeping computerized maintenance records over the performance period to document that leakage rate of refrigerants are kept to less than 3% of total charge, per year as per EPA rules. But the next requirement is to "reduce the leakage over the remainder of the unit life to below 25%". How can we document that and satisfy this requirement? Is there a calculation/extrapolation method that we can use? Or after we document the leakage percentage per year per piece of equipment can we multiply that with the expected life expectancy of that equipment and come up with a calculated leakage rate for the life of the equipment?
The average annual leakage percentage per year per piece of equipment may be multiplied with the expected remaining life expectancy of that equipment to show that the leakage rate over the remainder of unit life is being maintained below 25%. If there were no refrigerant refills conducted to any applicable piece of equipment during the performance period, document back to the last previous refill and adjust the percent refrigerant lost to be a percent annual loss to calculate the percent leakage rate over the remainder of unit life. Documentation of the leakage rate should include for each applicable HVAC&R system: 1. The refrigerant type used in the unit 2. The most recent refrigerant refill amount 3. The time elapsed between most recent refill and previous refill 4. Total refrigerant capacity of the chiller 5. Expected remaining life of the unit 6. Calculation of the percent annual refrigerant leakage rate [% per year] (see Equation 1 below): Equation 1 = [(Refrigerant lost since last refill [lbs.] / Total refrigerant contained in the Unit [lbs.]) / (Time between refrigerant refills [years])]