---
id: KB-CN-012
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/construction/hvac-from-commissioning-to-maintenance
idioma: en
categoria: sector-construccion
subcategoria: climatizacion
audiencia: usuario
nivel: intermedio
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-CN-006, KB-CF-014]
citadoPor: [KB-CS-037]
---

# HVAC: from commissioning to maintenance

_The handover between whoever installs and whoever maintains is where the documentation later needed gets lost._

**Responde a:** hvac installation documentation · installation and commissioning certificate · refrigeration maintenance records · f-gas handling documentation

An HVAC installation generates documentation at two widely separated moments: when it is fitted and commissioned, and then for years every time someone services it. The problem is that the same company rarely does both, and in that gap exactly what is needed when something fails gets lost.

## What is produced and who holds it

| Document | When | Who usually holds it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Design or installation specification | Before | The installer or the engineers |
| Installation and commissioning certificate | At completion | The installer, and sometimes only them |
| Charge and equipment records | At fitting and at each intervention | Whoever handles it, who may be someone else |
| Periodic inspections | Throughout its life | Whichever maintainer is current |

> [!IMPORTANT]
> The second row is the most often lost and the most needed: **the commissioning certificate is issued by the installer, who gets paid and leaves**. If the owner does not claim it at that moment, three years later they will be asking a company they no longer have a relationship with — and that, when the system has a problem or something must be justified, is precisely the worst moment.

## The handover, which is where it fails

1. **Gather the documentation before paying the final application** — It is the only real lever, and it works in HVAC as in any trade.
2. **File it by equipment, not by company** — The installer changes; the machine stays for twenty years.
3. **Give it complete to whoever will maintain it** — A maintainer without the commissioning record works blind and you will notice at the first breakdown.
4. **And add each intervention to the same file** — Even if a different company does it each year.

> [!WARNING]
> A detail that only surfaces when the maintainer changes: **whoever handles certain equipment and gases needs a specific licence, and that licence belongs to the person or company, not to the equipment**. Checking it is the job of whoever hires, not of whoever turns up in the van. And it must be checked valid on the days they worked, not only on the day the contract was signed.

## What gets asked for later

**En corto**

- Exactly what was installed and with what characteristics.
- The inspections carried out, with dates and by whom.
- Interventions on the circuit and what was charged or recovered.
- And the licence of whoever did it, valid that day.

All four are asked for by an insurer after an incident, by an inspector, or by the next owner. And all four are answered from the equipment's file if they were kept, or not answered at all.

> [!NOTE]
> Which inspections are mandatory, how often, and which licences are required depend on the installation type, the refrigerant and the applicable rules, which get updated. **Confirm with your engineer or maintainer**; this describes what documentation exists and where it gets lost.

**What if the installer no longer exists?**

Reconstruct what you can from what is available and note what is missing and why.

**Does the maintainer's job sheet count as a record?**

Yes, if it goes into the equipment's file the same day and not into an annual folder.

**Does this apply to a single unit in an office?**

Yes, and it costs less: one file per unit even if there are only two.

## Ejemplos

**An owner changes maintainer and the new one asks for the commissioning record, which nobody has.**

- On the next project, claims the documentation before the final payment application
- Files everything by equipment rather than by company

→ The next change of maintainer is settled by handing over the equipment's complete file.

**Commissioning is documented and then lost.**

- Captures the record at the moment

→ The document reaches the file.

**Later maintenance does not know what was installed.**

- Stores the file with the installation

→ Whoever maintains it finds what went in.

**Calendar inspections get forgotten.**

- Warns about each due date in advance

→ The calendar keeps itself.

**A unit still under warranty is repaired.**

- Records which warranties are live

→ The avoidable cost is avoided.

**A client asks you to evidence an old intervention.**

- Keeps the history per installation

→ You answer without reconstructing.