F-Gas Record Keeping for HVAC/R Engineers: What Do You Need to Record?
If you work in air conditioning or refrigeration, keeping accurate F-Gas records is an important part of managing equipment and maintaining the information needed for servicing and compliance.
But what exactly needs to be recorded?
And how do you keep track of everything when you're working across dozens of customer sites?
In this guide, we explain what F-Gas records need to contain, how long they need to be kept and how digital record keeping can make life easier for self-employed engineers.
This article is intended as general information and does not replace official F-Gas guidance. Always check the latest requirements that apply to the equipment and work you are carrying out.
What is F-Gas record keeping?
F-Gas record keeping means maintaining a record of relevant equipment and the fluorinated gases it contains, including information about refrigerant added, leak checks, recovery and servicing.
In Great Britain, records must be kept for relevant equipment containing F-Gas equivalent to 5 tonnes or more of CO₂ equivalent where the equipment is subject to the applicable leak-check requirements. This includes certain stationary refrigeration, air-conditioning and heat-pump equipment, as well as other categories of equipment.
For engineers, this means the information you record during installation, servicing and maintenance can become an important part of the equipment's ongoing history.
What F-Gas information needs to be recorded?
The exact records required depend on the equipment and circumstances, but official guidance includes several key pieces of information.
1. Refrigerant type and quantity
You should record the type and quantity of F-Gas in the equipment when it is installed.
Where applicable, the quantity should also be considered in terms of its CO₂ equivalent.
This information is particularly important because the CO₂-equivalent quantity is used when determining certain leak-check requirements.
2. Refrigerant added during servicing
If refrigerant is added during maintenance, servicing or because of a leak, this should be recorded.
Keeping a history of refrigerant additions can also help identify equipment that may have recurring leaks or require further investigation.
Instead of relying on individual job sheets, having this information linked to the equipment gives you a much clearer picture of its history.
3. Leak checks
Mandatory leak checks need to be recorded, including:
The date of the check
The result of the check
Any action taken following a leak
Relevant follow-up information
If a leak is found, the leak should be repaired as soon as possible and the equipment should be checked again within the required timeframe to confirm that the repair was successful.
4. Recovery and disposal of refrigerant
Records should also cover what happens to F-Gas when it is recovered from equipment.
This can include information about the quantity recovered and the arrangements made for recovery, recycling, reclamation or disposal.
If recovered gas is recycled or reclaimed, additional information about the recycling or reclamation facility may also need to be recorded.
5. Details of companies or engineers working on the equipment
Official guidance also includes records relating to companies or individuals involved in installing, servicing, maintaining, repairing or decommissioning equipment.
This can include names, addresses and certification information where applicable.
How long do F-Gas records need to be kept?
For equipment covered by the relevant F-Gas record-keeping requirements, records generally need to be retained for five years.
This means keeping the information organised over the entire life of your customer relationship can become increasingly difficult if you're relying on paper forms, individual PDFs, spreadsheets or folders on your computer.
Imagine trying to find the complete service history of a system you last worked on three years ago.
Where is the original job sheet?
When was refrigerant last added?
When was the last leak check?
What was the result?
Who carried out the work?
Having this information attached to the asset makes answering those questions much easier.
Why keeping F-Gas records digitally can make life easier
For a self-employed HVAC/R engineer, the challenge isn't necessarily knowing that records need to be kept.
The challenge is keeping everything organised while you're busy running jobs.
You might have:
Customer details in one place
Job sheets somewhere else
Photos on your phone
Signed PDFs in your email
Refrigerant information on paper
Asset details in a spreadsheet
F-Gas reminders in your calendar
Over time, this can become difficult to manage.
A digital job management system can bring these records together so that information is recorded as part of the job rather than being recreated later.
Keep the information with the asset
One of the simplest ways to make F-Gas record keeping easier is to keep the information connected to the equipment.
For example, when you open an asset record, you should be able to see:
Customer
Equipment
Refrigerant
Charge
CO₂ equivalent
Service history
Refrigerant additions
Leak checks
Job reports
Photos
This gives you a history of the equipment rather than a collection of individual documents.
How climateJob helps
climateJob was built specifically for HAVC/R engineers who want to spend less time on administration.
You can manage your customers, jobs and assets from your phone while you're on site.
You can also:
Complete digital job sheets
Record refrigerant information
Track equipment and asset history
Calculate CO₂e
Record leak-check information
Add photos and notes
Get customer signatures
Generate professional PDF reports
Email completed reports
Work offline when you don't have a reliable signal
The aim is simple:
Record the information while you're doing the job, instead of taking the paperwork home afterwards.
Stop taking your paperwork home
For many self-employed engineers, the working day doesn't necessarily end when the tools go back in the van.
There are still job sheets to complete, reports to send, customer records to update and F-Gas information to organise.
climateJob is designed to bring those tasks into the job itself.
Complete the job.
Get the signature.
Send the report.
Keep the records organised.
Then go home.
Try climateJob free for 30 days
If you're a self-employed air conditioning or refrigeration engineer, you can try climateJob free for 30 days and use it on your real jobs.
See whether it can help you spend less time on paperwork and more time doing what you actually do best.
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