EPA 608 at a glance

The four certification types, what each one lets you work on, and the rules every technician is held to.

Checked against the sources below on October 7, 2026

The short answer

Anyone who maintains, services, repairs or disposes of equipment that contains refrigerant needs EPA Section 608 certification — and that includes the A2L refrigerants. For a residential split system or heat pump the type is Type II (or Universal). The credential does not expire.

The four types

Type I

Small appliances

Factory-sealed appliances holding 5 pounds of refrigerant or less — window units, household refrigerators, dehumidifiers.

Type II

Medium-, high- and very-high-pressure appliances

Everything in that pressure range except small appliances and vehicle A/C. This is the residential split system and heat pump.

Type III

Low-pressure appliances

Low-pressure equipment such as centrifugal chillers.

Universal

All of the above

All three types. It can be earned in one sitting or by combining passing scores on the separate tests.

Vehicle air conditioning is a different program — Section 609 — with its own certification.

How the test is built

Certification	Questions	Passing score
Type I, II or III	25 core questions + 25 for the type	70%, closed book
Universal	100: 25 core + 25 for each of the three types	70%, closed book
Type I by mail	The open-book, mail-in format exists for Type I only	84%

40 CFR Part 82, Subpart F, Appendix D.

Type II, Type III and Universal are closed-book, proctored tests given by an EPA-approved certifying program.
A mail-in Type I test cannot be counted toward Universal.
EPA itself does not publish a study guide — it approves the programs that give the test.
An apprentice may work without certification only while closely and continually supervised by a certified technician.

The rules every technician is held to

Rule	What it says
No venting	No one maintaining, servicing, repairing or disposing of an appliance may knowingly vent or release refrigerant into the environment.
Sales restriction	Refrigerant may be sold only to a certified technician, or to an employer of one. The exception is the small can — two pounds or less, with a self-sealing valve — sold for vehicle A/C.
Disposal records	When recovering refrigerant to dispose of an appliance holding more than 5 and less than 50 pounds, keep for three years: the company, the location, the date and the type of refrigerant; the monthly total recovered by type; and what was sent for reclamation or destruction, to whom and when.
Recovered refrigerant	Recovered HFC refrigerant may not be resold for use in other equipment unless it has been reclaimed by a certified reclaimer.

What changed for HFCs in 2026 — and what did not

Leak repair now reaches HFC equipment holding 15 pounds or more, as of January 1, 2026 — but the rule excludes residential and light commercial air conditioners and heat pumps. The older Section 608 leak-repair rule covers only ozone-depleting refrigerants in appliances of 50 pounds or more.
“Reclaimed” has a definition. As of January 1, 2026, refrigerant sold as reclaimed may contain no more than 15% virgin HFC by weight.
Disposable cylinders are still legal. The ban and the tracking system were struck down in court and removed from the rule. What does apply, from January 1, 2028: the heel has to be recovered before a disposable cylinder is discarded.
There is no separate federal A2L certificate. Section 608 covers R-32 and R-454B. The EPA listing for those refrigerants advises that only technicians trained in handling flammable refrigerants should service the equipment.

Getting ready for the test

This page is the map, not the study material. The course that comes with A2L Crosswalk has a 608 track — one idea per lesson, a checkpoint after each. It does not issue the credential; you sit the test with an EPA-approved certifying program. See what is included →Open the course →

Sources

40 CFR Part 82, Subpart F — Recycling and Emissions Reduction — §82.161 (certification), Appendix D (the test), §82.154 (venting and sales), §82.156 (records)
EPA — Section 608 Technician Certification Requirements — credentials do not expire
40 CFR Part 84, Subpart C — Management of Regulated Substances — HFC leak repair (§84.106), reclaimed refrigerant (§84.112), disposable cylinders (§84.116)
EPA — Regulatory Actions for Managing HFC Use and Reuse

Federal rules change. This page reports what the sources said on the date above; the source is the authority, and state or local rules can be stricter. It is reference material, not legal advice and not installation guidance.