What F-Gas Certification Covers
A heat pump moves heat using a refrigerant, and many common refrigerants are fluorinated gases, or F-gases — powerful greenhouse gases if they escape. Under the UK's F-Gas Regulations, any work that involves handling them, from connecting a refrigerant circuit to repairing a leak, carrying out a mandatory leak check or recovering the gas, has to be done by a certified engineer.
On a monobloc heat pump the refrigerant circuit is sealed at the factory, so a standard install only involves water and electrical connections. A split system is different: the indoor and outdoor units are joined by refrigerant pipework on site, which has to be pressure tested, evacuated and charged by a certified engineer. The same goes for any repair that means opening a sealed circuit, on either type.
Some newer units, including Vaillant's aroTHERM plus, run on R290, a natural refrigerant rather than an F-gas. R290 is flammable, so those units come with their own siting and safety rules instead, and we plan the install around them.
What we cover
F-Gas Work We Carry Out
- Split system heat pump installation, including refrigerant pipework, pressure testing and charging
- Refrigerant leak detection and repair on existing heat pumps
- Mandatory leak checks on larger systems above the legal threshold, with the records you're required to keep
- Refrigerant recovery when an old heat pump is removed or replaced, so nothing is vented to the air
Questions we're often asked
F-Gas FAQs
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