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HVAC Installation Checklist: What to Check on Install Day and Before the Last Payment, From the Line Set and Pad to Static Pressure, Charge, Balancing and the Paperwork
Heating, Cooling & Ventilation
The HVAC Install Checklist: What to Look At Before the Crew Leaves and What to Hold Before the Last Cheque
Most HVAC installs look fine on the day. The outdoor unit is level, the thermostat lights up, and the house gets warm. What goes wrong usually shows up in February or July: an outdoor unit buried in snow, a drain that freezes, a charge nobody checked, a basement bedroom that never warms up. None of that is hard to check if you know where to look. This is the list I walk through on our own jobs, written so a homeowner can do most of it, and so you know what to ask the technician to show you.
Outside: the pad, the line set and the drain
The pad or bracket. The outdoor unit of a heat pump runs all winter, so it sits up off the ground on a stand or wall bracket, above the snow that drifts on that side of the house, and not under a roof edge that drops ice or a valley that dumps water. Level, with the clearances the installation manual asks for on every side. A heat pump on a patio slab at grade in a snowbelt is a heat pump that will be shovelled out at 6 a.m.
The line set. Insulated over its whole length, the insulation not torn at the wall, a sealed and flashed penetration through the wall, and a cover or lineset trunk where it runs up the siding. Ask whether it was new or reused, whether it was pressure tested with nitrogen and evacuated with a vacuum pump and a micron gauge, and what the reading was. A good technician has the number; a hurried one has a story.
The defrost water. A heat pump makes water when it defrosts, gallons of it on a wet winter day. It has to drain somewhere that is not the walkway, the driveway or the foundation.
Inside: condensate, venting and the ducts
The condensate. A furnace and an indoor coil both make water. The drain needs a trap, a slope, and a route to a floor drain or a condensate pump, plus a safety switch on the pump if one is used. Frozen or kinked condensate lines are the most common callback I hear about.
The gas venting. A high-efficiency furnace vents through plastic pipe out the side wall. Look for support every few feet, a slope back to the furnace, a termination clear of windows, doors, the gas meter and the snow line, as the manual and code require. If the old furnace was on the chimney, ask what happened to whatever is still on the chimney. Venting, gas pressure and the combustion test are the gas technician’s job, done by a TSSA-registered contractor with a certified technician. Make sure there is a CO alarm on every floor before anyone leaves.
The ducts. Joints sealed with mastic or foil tape, not cloth duct tape, a return path from every bedroom, and the filter slot with a door. Ask for the static pressure, measured, against the manufacturer’s rated number for the blower. High static is the duct system telling you it is too small for the airflow, and it is cheaper to hear about now than to discover as a noisy, struggling blower. The ductwork cost page covers fixing it.
What the commissioning sheet should show
Commissioning is setting the system up to the manufacturer’s numbers and writing them down. If there is no sheet, it did not happen. Ask for one before the last payment, with these on it:
- Refrigerant charge set to the manufacturer’s method and numbers, with the readings, by a 313A or 313D mechanic with an ODP card. Never by anybody else, and never by a homeowner.
- Airflow set for the system size, and the blower speed it was set at. A rough check is about 400 cfm per ton of cooling; the manufacturer’s number is the one that counts.
- Static pressure measured, supply and return, against the blower’s rated figure.
- Gas: combustion test and the inlet pressure checked on a furnace or boiler, by the gas technician.
- HRV balanced with a flow hood, supply and exhaust within the manufacturer’s tolerance, the readings written down. The HRV balancing page explains why.
- Thermostat and switchover settings: the outdoor temperature where a dual fuel system hands over to the furnace, the backup strip lockout, the defrost settings, written on the sheet so the next technician does not have to guess.
What the missed lines cost later
| Item, done after the fact | Range, before HST | Note |
|---|---|---|
| HRV balancing by a technician with a flow hood | $200 to $400 | allowance; should be in the install |
| Service visit, furnace or heat pump | $150 to $250 | a callback to fix a setting you were charged for once |
| Duct modification | $300 to $1,500 | when static is high or a room has no return |
| Dedicated 240 V circuit and disconnect | $500 to $1,500 | when “electrical by others” meant nobody |
| Range hood makeup air, where the hood is large | $1,000 to $3,000 | allowance; a tight house with a gas appliance |
| Municipal permit, where needed | $90 to $350 | pulled late, with an inspection of finished work |
| HRV filters, homeowner | $30 to $80 | twice a year with the core cleaning |
The full price ranges are on the heat pump cost page and the HRV installation cost page.
Why Ontario prices are all over the map: the price of the install depends on how much of this checklist is in it, which is why the contractors and price guides we checked were so far apart. For an HRV, a marketplace said $2,000 to $4,000 whole house and $1,500 to $3,250 for a basic GTA job, with the ducts alone anywhere from $1,300 to $6,600. For a cold-climate ducted heat pump the spread between the cheapest low end and the dearest high end was about $13,000. Balancing, commissioning, permits and the electrical are in some quotes and not others. Budget $3,500 for an HRV retrofit and $13,000 for a 3 ton heat pump, and get two or three quotes on the same written scope.
Before the last payment
Hold the last payment until the paper is in your hand. Not because anyone is a crook, but because paperwork gets done when there is still money attached to it. The list:
- The commissioning sheet, with the six items above.
- The permits closed, building where needed and the ESA permit for the electrical.
- The licences on file: TSSA registration and gas technician card, 313A or 313D certificate and ODP card, ESA LEC. The licensing page explains each.
- Warranty registration done, with the confirmation, in your name and with the model and serial numbers.
- The manuals and the settings left at the unit, and someone has shown you the filter, the HRV core, and where the condensate goes.
- The rebate paperwork: the pre-approval you got before the install, and confirmation that the contractor filed the post-installation application. The rebate page has the steps.
Questions people ask
What should I check after a heat pump installation?
The outdoor unit raised above the snow and level, the line set insulated and sealed at the wall, the defrost water draining away from walks, the indoor condensate draining properly, and a commissioning sheet with the charge, airflow, static pressure and settings written down.
Should I pay the HVAC contractor in full on install day?
Hold the final payment until the commissioning sheet, permits, warranty registration and rebate paperwork are in your hand. Agree on that in the contract, not on the day.
Can I check the refrigerant charge myself?
No. Refrigerant is handled only by a certified 313A or 313D mechanic with an ODP card. What you can do is ask for the readings and keep the sheet.
How do I know my HRV was balanced?
There is a sheet with supply and exhaust airflow measured by a technician with a flow hood. If nobody brought a flow hood, it was not balanced; budget $200 to $400 to have it done.
Get the scope right before the install, not after
Most of this checklist is cheaper written into the quote than chased afterward. The system cost comparison calculator gives you the price to expect, and the $99 review reads up to three quotes and marks which of these lines each one has left out.
Sources and further reading
- Heating and Cooling With a Heat Pump: Natural Resources Canada: how air-source, ductless, ground-source and air-to-water heat pumps work in a Canadian climate, sizing, backup heat and balance points.
- What is a heat or energy recovery ventilator and why do I need one?: Natural Resources Canada: HRVs and ERVs in plain language, and why an airtight house needs one.
- Ontario’s Building Code: the official page with the current regulation; heating, ventilation and air conditioning in houses are Part 9, sections 9.32 (ventilation) and 9.33 (heating and air conditioning).
