What the F-Gas rules actually say, why the "cheap unit plus a handyman" route is illegal, what R32 means for your new system — and exactly what to check before you let anyone near refrigerant pipework.
Air conditioning is one of the few home improvements where the law reaches right into who's allowed to hold the spanner. The refrigerant inside a split system is a regulated substance, and the rules around it are not red tape for its own sake — a leaking system is both an environmental problem and a broken, expensive one. Here's what the F-Gas regulations mean in plain English for anyone buying air conditioning in Wiltshire, and how to avoid the trap that catches out a few homeowners every summer.
F-Gases are fluorinated greenhouse gases — the family of refrigerants (like R32 and R410A) that make air conditioning work. Because they are potent greenhouse gases if released, their supply, handling and disposal are controlled under the GB F-Gas Regulation, enforced by the Environment Agency. The regulation controls the gases themselves, the equipment containing them, and — crucially for you — the people allowed to work on that equipment.
Anyone who installs, services, repairs or decommissions equipment containing F-Gas refrigerants must hold a recognised F-Gas qualification — typically City & Guilds 2079 or equivalent. Companies doing this work must themselves be certified, through a scheme such as REFCOM. And it is illegal to buy refrigerant, or to do any of that work, without the certification. This isn't a "best practice" recommendation; it's law, with real penalties behind it.
The refrigerant stage of an installation — connecting the pipework, pressure testing, evacuating the lines and releasing or charging the gas — is exactly the stage that determines whether a system runs efficiently for fifteen years or limps along leaking from day one. The law puts a qualified person at that stage on purpose.
Every summer, online marketplaces fill up with supply-only split systems at tempting prices, and there's always someone locally who'll offer to "fit it for cash". Three things are wrong with that picture:
We're regularly called out around Swindon and Salisbury to systems installed this way, and the repair bill almost always exceeds the money "saved".
| Check | What to ask for |
|---|---|
| Company certification | The company's F-Gas certificate number (e.g. REFCOM registration) — verifiable online |
| Engineer qualification | City & Guilds 2079 or equivalent for the person actually doing the work |
| Commissioning records | Confirmation you'll receive pressure test and commissioning paperwork on completion |
| Refrigerant specified | R32 on any new domestic system quoted in 2026 |
A legitimate installer produces all of this without blinking. Hesitation is your answer.
R32 is now the standard for new domestic systems. It has roughly a third of the global-warming potential of the older R410A, which is being phased down under the F-Gas quota system. Practical consequences: new systems should be quoted on R32 as a matter of course, while owners of older R410A systems will see regas and repair costs creep upward as the phase-down tightens supply. That doesn't mean an older system needs replacing while it's working well — but when a major refrigerant repair looms on an ageing R410A unit, replacement with an R32 system is often the more economical path.
Air conditioning is a sealed system — it should never need refrigerant "topping up". If the charge is low, there's a leak, and under the F-Gas rules topping up a leaking system without finding and fixing the leak is illegal. An engineer who offers a quick regas with no leak detection is telling you how they work. A proper repair finds the leak, fixes it, pressure-tests, then recharges — which is also the only version that actually solves your problem rather than renting you a few months of cooling.
Decommissioning is regulated too. The refrigerant in a redundant system must be recovered by a certified engineer before the unit is removed — venting it to the air is an offence — and the unit itself goes for proper WEEE recycling, not into a skip. When we replace a system, recovery and disposal of the old one is part of the job and documented like everything else.
Air Conditioning Wiltshire is F-Gas certified as a company, and every engineer we send holds the qualifications above — with pressure-test and commissioning records issued on every install, from Devizes to Marlborough. Send us a message with your town and what you're planning, and we'll come back with a fixed, fully certified quote and no corner-cutting.
Ask for two things: the company's F-Gas certificate number (for example a REFCOM registration, verifiable on the REFCOM website) and the individual engineer's qualification — typically City & Guilds 2079 or equivalent. A legitimate installer produces both without hesitation; reluctance is itself the answer.
You can legally mount brackets and run cables, but the refrigerant stage — connecting, pressure-testing, evacuating and charging — legally requires an F-Gas qualified person, and it's illegal to buy refrigerant without certification. A genuine DIY split-system install isn't lawfully possible, and attempting it voids the warranty.
R32. It has roughly a third of the global-warming potential of the older R410A, which is being phased down, and every major manufacturer's current domestic range runs on it. A 2026 quote specifying R410A is old stock — refuse it.
Tell us your town and what you're planning — a certified engineer will survey for free and come back with a fixed quote, commissioning paperwork included.
Send Us a Message