# What refrigerant leak rate should a food processing plant or cold store use without service records?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/industrial-refrigeration-leak-rate-food-processing

IPCC 2006 gives 7% to 25% of the charge a year for industrial refrigeration, including food processing and cold storage, where charges run from 10 kg to 10,000 kg. Developing countries sit toward the upper end. Use top-up records where you have them; ammonia leaks add no CO2e.

## IPCC defaults for industrial systems

- Charge: 10 kg to 10,000 kg.
- Lifetime: 15 to 30 years.
- Installation loss: 0.5% to 3% of the charge.
- Operating leakage: 7% to 25% of the charge a year.
- End of life: recovery of 0% to 90% of the gas, with 50% to 100% of the charge still in the system.

## Picking a rate in India

IPCC notes the lower values reflect developed countries and the higher values developing countries. An older plant with long pipe runs and breakdown-only servicing belongs near 25%. A newer plant with scheduled leak checks can justify a lower figure if it keeps the check reports. Write down the rate and keep it for the base year.

## Ammonia and HFC plants

Many Indian cold stores and dairies run on ammonia, whose GWP is zero, so leaks add nothing to CO2e, though they still matter for safety. HFC systems do count: R-404A is 4,728 and R-134a is 1,530 under AR6.

## Better than a default

The kilograms topped up in a year, from service invoices, are a direct measure of what leaked. A default rate is a starting estimate until you have a year of records.

## Worked example: a 500 kg R-404A cold store

- Charge: 500 kg of R-404A (illustrative)
- At 25%: 125 kg x 4,728 = 591 t CO2e a year
- At 7%: 35 kg x 4,728 = 165 t CO2e a year
- The range shows why a year of top-up records is worth more than any default

## What Senseible does here

Senseible records refrigerant top-up invoices as Scope 1 lines, with the gas and kilograms where the invoice prints them, and keeps the plant's electricity bills for Scope 2 beside them.

- [Cold store HFC top-up emissions](https://senseible.earth/answers/agra-cold-store-hfc-top-up-emissions)
- [Ammonia or HFC refrigeration](https://senseible.earth/answers/ammonia-vs-hfc-cold-storage-refrigerant)
- [Leakage without top-up records](https://senseible.earth/answers/estimate-refrigerant-leakage-without-records)

Sources: [IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 3, Chapter 7, Table 7.9: charge, lifetime and emission factors for refrigeration and air conditioning](https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/pdf/3_Volume3/V3_7_Ch7_ODS_Substitutes.pdf), [IPCC AR6 Working Group I, global warming potentials](https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/)

Last reviewed 2026-10-25.