If you're replacing a central air conditioner, furnace or heat pump in California, your permit may list "HERS" or "ECC" verification. Here's what that means and why it's there.
HERS is now called ECC
California renamed the Home Energy Rating System (HERS) to Energy Code Compliance (ECC) on January 1, 2026. The testing is the same. You'll still hear both names, and older paperwork says HERS.
Why the test is required
California's energy code (Title 24) sets efficiency rules for new and replacement HVAC systems. Some of them can't be confirmed by looking at the equipment: whether the ducts leak, whether the refrigerant charge is right, whether enough air moves across the coil. For those measures the code requires an independent test by a certified rater, and the building department needs the registered results before it signs off the permit.
What gets tested on a typical replacement
Which tests apply depends on the project, and your project's paperwork lists them. On HVAC work they're commonly:
- Duct leakage: the ducts are pressurized and the leakage measured.
- Refrigerant charge: verifying the system is charged correctly.
- Airflow and fan watt draw: confirming enough air moves across the coil, efficiently.
The paperwork, in plain terms
- CF1R (Certificate of Compliance): lists the measures that need verifying.
- CF2R (Certificate of Installation): completed by the installing contractor.
- CF3R (Certificate of Verification): issued by the rater after testing and registered with an approved data registry, where your building department can look it up.
If a measure fails, the contractor corrects it and the rater tests again until it passes.
Why your installer can't be your tester
The rater who verifies a system has to be independent of the contractor who installed it, with no financial interest in the job. That's the point of the test: a second set of eyes. So the company that put in your system arranges for an independent ECC rater, and that rater tests it and registers the results.
That's how we work too. We don't ECC-test systems we install; on our own installations, an independent rater does the testing. Separately, our testing service at mtestpros.com does ECC testing on other contractors' projects: Trevor Sacco is a Certified ECC Rater (Rater No. RCN15040) through CHEERS. See HERS (ECC) and acceptance testing for the full list of tests, or call 805-965-6326.