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HVAC standard operating procedures

Twelve templates. Free to copy, no account. Last reviewed 2026-09-07.

An HVAC shop runs on repetition. The same maintenance visit, done four hundred times a season, by technicians with different habits and different levels of patience.

The gap between them shows up as callbacks, warranty claims and the occasional insurance question. A written procedure closes some of that gap, but only if it is short enough to be read on a roof.

These twelve cover the jobs where the variation costs the most. Take them, change the parts that differ in your shop, and put your own name on them.

On this page
  1. Ladder and roof access
  2. Condenser coil clean
  3. Refrigerant recovery and log
  4. Seasonal maintenance visit
  5. Furnace startup and combustion check
  6. Thermostat install and customer handover
  7. Duct inspection and reporting
  8. Mini split installation
  9. Electrical safety at the unit
  10. Attic and equipment room work
  11. Maintenance callback
  12. Van and equipment check

Keep the record, not just the paperwork

Copy any procedure on this page into your own documents at no cost. What Intulix sells is the part underneath: a signed, dated, version locked record of which technician read which version, exportable as a PDF when someone asks. Start free or see pricing from $59 a month.

The twelve procedures

Ladder and roof access

Most fall claims in the trades start with a ladder that was never footed or tied off.

  1. Inspect the ladder for damage and confirm the duty rating suits the load.
  2. Set the base one foot out for every four feet of height.
  3. Extend three rungs past the roof edge and tie the top off.
  4. Foot the ladder or use a stabilizer. Never climb an unsecured ladder alone.
  5. Carry nothing in your hands on the way up. Haul tools separately.
  6. Photograph the setup before climbing.

Condenser coil clean

Done wrong it bends fins and turns a maintenance visit into a warranty argument.

  1. Kill power at the disconnect and verify with the meter.
  2. Photograph the coil before starting.
  3. Clear debris by hand before any water touches it.
  4. Spray from the inside out, never from the outside in.
  5. Comb any bent fins.
  6. Restore power, confirm startup, and photograph the finished unit.

Refrigerant recovery and log

The record keeping that gets a shop fined when nobody bothers.

  1. Weigh the recovery cylinder before starting and write it down.
  2. Recover to the required vacuum for the refrigerant type.
  3. Weigh the cylinder again and record the difference.
  4. Log the job number, technician, refrigerant type and both weights.
  5. Photograph the completed log line.

Seasonal maintenance visit

The visit that either renews the contract or loses it.

  1. Confirm the equipment list against the contract before starting.
  2. Record filter sizes and replace what the contract covers.
  3. Take supply and return temperatures and log them.
  4. Check the condensate line and photograph the pan.
  5. Report anything failing but not yet failed, with a photograph.
  6. Leave the written summary with the customer, not in the truck.

Furnace startup and combustion check

Carbon monoxide is the one failure with no second chance.

  1. Inspect the heat exchanger before firing.
  2. Confirm the flue is clear and correctly pitched.
  3. Take a combustion analysis reading and record it.
  4. Test the CO detector in the space if one is fitted.
  5. If any reading is out of range, shut down and tag the unit.
  6. Photograph the analyzer display with the readings visible.

Thermostat install and customer handover

Most post install calls are about the thermostat, not the equipment.

  1. Photograph the existing wiring before disconnecting.
  2. Label every wire before removal.
  3. Set the schedule with the customer rather than for them.
  4. Connect to their wifi with their permission and their password, never a shared one.
  5. Show them how to override and how to change the schedule.
  6. Write down the model and the app on the invoice.

Duct inspection and reporting

Where honest reporting separates a shop from the ones selling unnecessary replacements.

  1. Photograph accessible duct runs before quoting anything.
  2. Measure static pressure and record it.
  3. Note disconnected or crushed runs with the location.
  4. Report leakage in plain terms and show the photographs.
  5. Do not quote a replacement without a measurement to support it.

Mini split installation

Line set errors show up months later as a warranty claim.

  1. Confirm the line set length is within the manufacturer limit.
  2. Flare and torque to the published values, not by feel.
  3. Pressure test with nitrogen and record the hold time.
  4. Pull the vacuum to the required micron level and record it.
  5. Photograph the micron gauge before releasing charge.
  6. Commission and record the operating pressures.

Electrical safety at the unit

HVAC technicians work near live parts more often than they think about it.

  1. Kill power at the disconnect and verify with the meter.
  2. Test the meter on a known source before and after testing the circuit.
  3. Discharge capacitors before touching terminals.
  4. Never bypass a safety to keep a unit running for the customer.
  5. If the unit is not labeled, stop and call the lead.

Attic and equipment room work

Heat, insulation and ceiling joists cause a predictable set of injuries and a predictable set of ceiling repairs.

  1. Check the ceiling structure before putting weight anywhere.
  2. Lay boards across joists. Never step on drywall.
  3. Take a light and set it up before carrying tools in.
  4. Limit continuous attic time in hot conditions and take water in.
  5. Photograph the equipment location and access route on the first visit.

Maintenance callback

A return visit inside the warranty window is a procedure problem, not a technician problem.

  1. Read the previous visit notes and photographs before arriving.
  2. Confirm what the customer experienced in their words.
  3. Diagnose in front of the customer where possible.
  4. Record the root cause on the ticket.
  5. Feed the root cause back into the procedure that missed it.

Van and equipment check

A missing gauge set turns a one hour job into a two hour job.

  1. Confirm gauges, vacuum pump and recovery machine are on board and working.
  2. Check refrigerant cylinder levels and tag anything low.
  3. Confirm ladder condition and strapping.
  4. Check the meter batteries and the leak detector.
  5. Restock filters and standard consumables.

How to make these yours

A template written by someone who has never seen your shop is a starting point and nothing more. Three things are worth changing before you hand any of these to a crew.

  1. Replace anything that names a tool, a brand or a supplier with what you actually use. A step that references equipment nobody has is a step that gets skipped, and one skipped step teaches the crew the rest are optional too.
  2. Cut anything that does not apply. A twelve step procedure with four irrelevant steps is worse than an eight step one, because the technician now has to decide which steps count.
  3. Add the local part. Permit rules, inspection sequence and utility procedures differ by jurisdiction, and that is exactly the part a generic template cannot supply.

What happens after you write them

Writing the procedure is the easy half. The half that matters in a dispute is proving a specific person read a specific version on a specific date, which a shared folder cannot do and a binder cannot do either.

That is the part Intulix handles. You send the procedure, the technician reads it on a phone and signs with a finger, and the record is locked against the exact version they saw. When you edit the procedure later, the old signatures stay attached to the old words instead of quietly transferring to text nobody agreed to.

Start free and send your first procedure

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