Standards & Guidelines

100+ performance rating standards and guidelines for the HVACR and water heating industry.

AHRI maintains a continuously evolving portfolio of over 100 performance rating standards and guidelines for the HVACR and water heating industry. They promote consistency in manufacturer specifications, which increases consumer confidence, and provides a means for manufacturers, third-party laboratories, regulators, and certification bodies to evaluate products objectively and consistently.

AHRI Standards Overview

AHRI standards are developed under a process composed of multiple levels of development, review, and approval by industry experts and other stakeholders. The AHRI standards process is accredited by both the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and Standards Council Canada (SCC), which means that AHRI standards can be further approved as American National Standards (ANS) and/or as National Standards of Canada (NSC).

The stages of development and approval include the following: 

  1. A proposal to start a new activity coming from any source.
  2. Initiation of a standards activity by the Standards Subcommittee.
  3. Development of a draft by the Standards Technical Committee or Standards Work Group. 
  4. Public review of the draft, then revision by the Standards Technical Committee to address comments received and approval by the Standards Technical Committee. 
  5. Review and approval of the draft by the Standards Subcommittee. The document may now be published as an AHRI standard. 
  6. (Optionally) Review and approval by a Consensus Body and submission by AHRI staff to ANSI and/or SCC for publication of the AHRI standard as American National Standard (ANS) and/or National Standard Canada (NSC) 

The approved AHRI Standards Committee Policy and Procedure document is found here.

Appeals

Appeals related to any decisions made, or actions taken or not taken, are handled in accordance with the appeals process found in section 7.2 of the AHRI Standards Committee Policy and Procedure document. 

Metric Policy

The AHRI Standards Committee (StdC) has established the policy that all AHRI standards and guidelines will use SI units, either solely or in addition to I-P units. See section 3.3 of the AHRI Standards Committee Policy and Procedure document.

Patent Policy

The AHRI Patent Policy is found in Appendix A of the AHRI Standards Committee Policy and Procedure document. 

AHRI, the Air Conditioning, Heating, & Refrigeration Institute, develops performance-based standards for equipment designed and manufactured by HVACR industry participants. These standards, which are used throughout the world, stimulate innovation and are the stepping stones to improving product performance. Through the use of industry standards and voluntary participation in AHRI's certification programs, manufacturers can improve the quality of their products, and consumers can be assured manufacturers' performance claims are accurate and rated uniformly, enabling fair comparisons. AHRI provides free access to its standards and guidelines, as well as information about how they are developed and advanced globally. 

The AHRI Standards Committee, a standing committee of the AHRI Board of Directors, has oversight of the AHRI standards activity. 

Standards Resources

Development of AHRI Standards

AHRI standards are developed under a process composed of multiple levels of development, review, and approval by industry experts and stakeholders. The AHRI standards process is accredited by both the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and Standards Council Canada (SCC), which means that AHRI standards can be approved as American National Standards (ANS) and as National Standards of Canada (NSC). For information related to ANSI and SCC click here

Interpretations

Interpretations of published AHRI Standards and Guidelines may be requested in accordance with the process defined by the AHRI Standards Committee Policy & Procedure section 8.2. Requests for interpretation must be submitted to AHRI_Standards@ahrinet.org, and will be acknowledged within ten days. Interpretations are developed and approved by the Standards Technical Committee and Standards Subcommittee responsible for maintenance of the standard or guideline, and upon approval will be published with the associated standard on the Published AHRI Standards and Guides page, here.

Safety Standards

AHRI does not set safety standards and does not certify or guarantee the safety of any products, components or systems designed, tested, rated, installed or operated in accordance with AHRI standards and guidelines. AHRI strongly recommends that products be designed, constructed, assembled, installed and operated in accordance with nationally recognized safety standards and code requirements appropriate for products covered by AHRI standards and guidelines. AHRI uses its best efforts to develop standards and guidelines employing state-of-the-art and accepted industry practices. AHRI does not certify or guarantee that any tests conducted under its standards or guidelines will be non-hazardous or free from risk.

Relationship to AHRI Certification Program

AHRI has established and continuously maintains certification programs to promote the use of and compliance with AHRI and other nationally or internationally recognized Standards, in support of its responsibility for leadership in the air-conditioning, heating, water heating, and refrigeration industry. The AHRI certification programs are accredited to ISO 17065 and are open to all manufacturers on an equal basis. More information about the AHRI certification program may be found here.

Published AHRI Standards and Guidelines

Search all published standards and guides by number and title.

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More About AHRI Standards

Questions related to the AHRI standards process or activities, or any appeals or complaints regarding any aspect of the standards activity, may be submitted to AHRI_Standards@ahrinet.org.

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How to Participate

Input in AHRI standards activities is welcome from stakeholders and affected or interested parties.

Talk to the Standards Team

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