HVAC Replacement Quote Checker

At minimum it should identify the equipment by model number for every component — outdoor unit, indoor coil or air handler, and furnace where one is included — and state the AHRI Reference Number for that combination alongside the efficiency ratings it certifies. It should name the refrigerant. It should reference a load calculation for the house rather than matching the size of the outgoing equipment. It should say who pulls the permit and whether the fee is included, name the licensed contractor performing the work, and state what happens to the existing ductwork. And it should commit to documented startup measurements, address the refrigerant line set, state both warranty terms and any registration deadline, and cover condensate drainage and removal of the old equipment.

Because residential efficiency ratings are certified for a tested combination of equipment rather than for the outdoor unit on its own. The indoor coil determines how much surface area is available for heat exchange and the blower determines the airflow across it, so the same compressor paired with different indoor equipment performs differently. A brand and a tonnage describe a category. Model numbers plus an AHRI Reference Number describe the specific system whose rating was measured, which is the only version of the claim that can be checked against what actually arrives.

It is the identifier assigned to a specific certified combination in the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute's public directory, listing each component model number and the SEER2, EER2 and HSPF2 that combination achieved in testing. Ask for it before the equipment is ordered because that is when it still has leverage — the selection can change at no cost. Asked afterwards it becomes an audit of an installed decision, where the only options are to accept it or to argue. The number is generated from the equipment selection, so a contractor who has chosen the equipment can produce it in minutes.

It matters more than it is usually given credit for, because the common alternative is to match the capacity of the equipment being removed. That treats the outgoing system's size as evidence of what the house needs, when it is only evidence of what somebody once selected — possibly for a house that has since had insulation, windows or an addition changed. Oversized equipment short-cycles, which costs comfort and humidity control rather than announcing itself as a fault. This is why a proposal that references a calculation for this house is a different document from one that does not.

Most new equipment uses R-454B or R-32, both under the 700 global warming potential limit that the EPA's Technology Transitions Rule applies to new residential air conditioning. Manufacturing and import of new R-410A residential split systems stopped on January 1, 2025. A 2026 EPA final rule permits continued installation of R-410A units manufactured or imported before that date until existing stock is depleted, so a quote today can lawfully be for either. They are not the same purchase over the life of the system, which is why the refrigerant belongs on the proposal. R-410A remains legal to service.

They are the readings taken when the system is first commissioned — refrigerant charge, airflow across the coil, and static pressure in the duct system — recorded and handed to the homeowner. They matter because a correctly specified and correctly matched system can still be installed badly, and laboratory efficiency ratings say nothing about what a particular installation delivers. A commitment to measure and document is the difference between a system that is running and a system somebody has demonstrated is working. It is also the record that makes a later performance complaint tractable.

No. It is a completeness check against a list of items, using answers you supply about a document you are holding. It does not evaluate whether the equipment is correctly sized for your house, whether the price is reasonable, whether the contractor is competent, or what your jurisdiction requires. It never asks for a price and does not estimate one. A licensed contractor and the authority having jurisdiction decide the substance. What this does is help you notice what a proposal has left unsaid, at the point where asking is still free.