INSTALLATION STANDARDS · COMMISSIONING

How Honest Fix Commissions Your System

Commissioning is the last step of an installation and the most important one. It is where your technician proves, with instruments, that your system runs the way its manufacturer designed it to, which is the system you were promised. Your technician sets the airflow first, charges the system by the method its manufacturer requires, then measures and records every reading and checks each one against that manufacturer's specification. That record becomes your system's baseline. This page is that standard, published in full, so you can hold any contractor to it. Ours included.

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Airflow First, Then Charge

Your system's airflow is set to the manufacturer's requirement, with every supply vent in the house open, before the charge is adjusted. A system charged on the wrong airflow is charged wrong from the start.

Every Reading Recorded and Verified

Your technician measures each performance reading and checks it against the data tag and the manufacturer's specification for your exact equipment, not a rule of thumb.

Your System Gets a Baseline

The readings go on the commissioning record Honest Fix keeps for your system, so a technician servicing it later can tell whether anything has changed.

THE HONEST FIX COMMISSIONING STANDARD

How Your Technician Proves the System Runs Right

Commissioning is not a glance and a thumbs-up. It is a measured process, done in order, and written down. First your technician makes sure the system is moving the right amount of air. Then they charge it by the method its manufacturer specifies. Then they take a full set of readings and check each one against that manufacturer's specification. Here is what that involves, and what goes on the record Honest Fix keeps for your system.

HOW IT IS DONE

The process, in order

Set the airflow. One clean filter, every supply vent in the house open, and the blower set to the airflow the manufacturer requires for the equipment. The charge is not adjusted until the air is right.
Balance, if the system needs it. Done after airflow is set and before charging, so the duct system is never restricted past its limit.
Charge by the manufacturer's method. Your technician uses the method the manufacturer specifies: subcooling when outdoor temperatures allow a true reading, weigh-in when it is too cold outside for one, or a pressure-temperature chart where the manufacturer calls for it. The system stabilizes before any reading is trusted.
Measure, record, and verify. Your technician takes the full set of readings below, records them on the commissioning sheet Honest Fix keeps for your system, and checks each one against the data tag and the manufacturer's specification for your equipment.
Cycle and confirm. Before leaving, your technician runs the system from the thermostat in every mode it has, heating and cooling, and on a heat pump records the heating temperature split on the commissioning sheet.

The readings we record

Reading	What it confirms
Subcooling	The refrigerant charge is correct for the conditions, on a system charged by the subcooling method.
Superheat	The charge and the metering are right and the compressor is protected.
Temperature split, cooling	The system is actually pulling heat out of your air the way it should.
Temperature split, heating (heat pump)	The heat pump is delivering heat, recorded after charging is complete.
Total airflow (CFM)	The system is moving the air the equipment was designed around.
Total external static pressure	The duct system is not choking the airflow.
Operating pressures	Suction and liquid pressures read where the manufacturer expects them.
Saturation temperatures	The refrigerant is behaving correctly at the coil and the condenser.
Line temperatures	Cross-checks the pressures and the charge.
Total charge added	Exactly how much refrigerant the system holds, on the record for future service.
Outdoor temperature (cooling)	The cooling readings are judged against the conditions they were taken in.
Line set size	The refrigerant lines match what the equipment was designed for.
Gas pressure, first and second stage	The furnace is getting the gas pressure its manufacturer specifies on each stage.
Gas type	The furnace is set up for the gas it actually burns.
High and low voltage at the outdoor unit (cooling) and the indoor unit (heating)	The equipment is getting the power its manufacturer specifies.
Blower motor amp draw	The blower is running within its rated load.

Every reading is checked against the data tag and the manufacturer's specification for your equipment. Honest Fix records the measured values on the commissioning sheet it keeps for your system, and never commissions a system to a rule of thumb.

THE RECORD HONEST FIX KEEPS

The commissioning record

Every one of those readings goes onto the commissioning record Honest Fix keeps for your system. It is the proof that the work was measured, not guessed, and it is the baseline an Honest Fix technician uses to spot a change before it becomes a failure. A system with a commissioning record can be diagnosed against how it ran on day one. A system without one is a guess every time.

WHY THIS ONE MATTERS HERE

An Uncommissioned System Is a System Nobody Actually Checked

A system can be installed, turned on, and feel like it is working while running nowhere near the way it was designed to. Commissioning is the step that catches that, and it is the step most often skipped because the system runs without it, for a while.

A system charged on bad airflow is charged wrong

If the air is not set first, every reading taken after it is measured against the wrong baseline, and the charge that looks right is not.

The wrong charge shortens the compressor's life

A system running overcharged or undercharged works harder than it should for years, and the failure that follows looks like bad luck instead of a skipped step.

No baseline means no way to diagnose later

Without a commissioning record, a technician years from now has nothing to compare against, so a system drifting out of spec is invisible until it fails.

Running is not the same as running right

An uncommissioned system can cool or heat while delivering less than it should and costing more than it should, and you would never know without the measurements.

Field conditions. Final installation details may vary based on manufacturer requirements, local code, home conditions, equipment model, safety constraints, and the written scope of work. Where the manufacturer's instructions and this standard disagree, the manufacturer's instructions win, and your technician follows them.

COMMISSIONING

Common Questions

What does commissioning a system actually mean?

Why does airflow get set before the system is charged?

What are subcooling and superheat, in plain terms?

Where do the readings from my system go?

What is the commissioning record for?

My old system was never commissioned and it worked. Why does it matter?

How do I know my system was commissioned right?

Last Updated: November 12th, 2026

Was Yours Ever Actually Commissioned?

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