AHRI certificates for the exact outdoor unit, coil and furnace your contractor quoted.

The request usually comes after the sale: the homeowner's utility wants the AHRI certificate. Someone pulls the quote or the order, works out which condenser or heat pump, which coil or air handler and which furnace actually shipped, finds that combination in AHRI's directory, and sends the certificate with its reference number.

For the test, AI reads copies of those quotes, orders and the certificates your team sent, and drafts the request for each system: the model numbers that make up the match, the reference number it points to, the ratings the rebate form will ask for, and every place the paperwork disagrees. A person still pulls and sends the certificate. Nothing goes to a contractor, a utility or a building department.

A certificate rates a combination, not a box. AHRI's Certificate of Product Ratings lists an AHRI type, then the outdoor unit (condenser or single package), the indoor unit (evaporator and/or air handler) and, where one applies, the furnace, and says the manufacturer is responsible for the rating of that system combination. One heat pump certificate from December 2024 is typed HRCU-A-CB, a split heat pump with a remote outdoor unit, and rates it under AHRI 210/240-2024 for cooling capacity, SEER2, EER2 at 95°F, heating capacity at 47°F and HSPF2 for Region IV. Its fine print says certified ratings hold only for models and configurations listed in the directory, so a different coil on the order means a different certificate.

The furnace is the usual surprise. AHRI's guidance for rebate requests is to give the outdoor and indoor model numbers, and the furnace only when it is the same brand as the outdoor unit; otherwise the combination is certified without it. Serial numbers don't help, because AHRI doesn't record them. AHRI's own search tips say fewer characters of a model number work better than the full string, and that on a multi-zone system the indoor type decides which record applies. The draft shows which model numbers it matched on and why a furnace was or wasn't listed.

Status changes after the quote. Every certificate carries a model status. In AHRI's definitions, a Production Stopped model is no longer made but is still sold; a Discontinued model is neither made nor sold and stays searchable for five years; an Obsolete model was pulled after an AHRI test failure and is not AHRI Certified. AHRI keeps data only on equipment discontinued less than five years ago, and a rating marked WAS was involuntarily re-rated, with the old figure printed beside the new one. Older stock can carry a status the quote never mentioned, so the draft records the status and the date it read it.

Each program reads the certificate its own way. New Hampshire's 2026 rebate form asks for the AHRI reference number and the AHRI cooling capacity, and counts tons by dividing that capacity by 12,000, up to five tons, so the tonnage comes from the certificate, not the model name. Its invoice must show the make, the condenser and indoor unit model numbers, and the install date and address. Central air conditioners there must be ENERGY STAR certified. ENERGY STAR's cold-climate heat pump criteria add a COP of at least 1.75 at 5°F, a figure the heat pump certificate above doesn't print. AHRI says it keeps no list of rebate programs, so each program's rules come from its own form.

Credits and permits ask different questions. The federal credit for central air and heat pumps required the highest CEE tier, not counting any advanced tier, and for 2025 a qualified manufacturer whose QMID went on the return; the IRS says it is not allowed for property placed in service after December 31, 2025. Some building departments want the certificate at permit: Martin County, Florida's 2026 changeout checklist asks for the AHRI form to verify SEER2 and for a changeout form that ensures matched systems. The draft lists what each program or permit asks for and where the certificate answers it. It never says that a system qualifies.

Once your reviewer says yes against the success criteria, new requests go through the same drafting for about 30 days.

A person checks every draft, pulls the certificate from AHRI's directory and decides what goes back to the contractor.

The live month is priced as a fixed figure before you sign. Another equipment line or another job is decided and priced on its own.