The Electrification Handover SOP

Purpose

A converted house is a different house to live in and a different house to service: cooler supply air and long run times, a water heater that cools its room, a panel that pauses some loads on its own, gas lines that end in caps, a chimney that may serve nothing. This SOP guarantees that at the end of every conversion the household knows what normal now looks like, the equipment is left in its normal operating state with every setting recorded, and the next tech can read what was done without calling anyone. Without it, the first cold week produces callbacks for equipment that is working, and the first service call two years later starts with a tech guessing which pipe is live.

Scope

Covers: the close-out visit at the end of a partial or full conversion, and the first-winter follow-up call it schedules.

Does not cover: the comfort and bill conversation itself in depth (See related: How to Set Expectations for the First Heat Pump Winter, which owns it), the venting check on remaining gas appliances (The Gas Appliance Removal and Venting Check SOP, which must already be on file before this one starts), or the long-term documentation standard (How to Document a Converted House for the Next Tech). Equipment commissioning to the manufacturer's procedure is each trade's own work; this SOP collects and checks the results.

Roles and responsibilities

The handoff that fails is booking the visit with whoever is home. If the person who sets the thermostat cannot attend, the visit is rebooked, not completed with someone else.

Procedure

1. Collect every trade's commissioning results before the visit. Required: heat pump charge verified to the manufacturer's chart, supply and return temperatures at a stated outdoor temperature, the heating airflow setting, backup heat size and its outdoor lockout setting, heat pump water heater mode and setpoint, energy management setpoint and shed order, and the venting check card. Acceptance: every field has a value or "not installed." Wrong looks like a blank, or a venting card missing on a house that still has a vented gas appliance. Stop rule: a missing venting card stops the handover until it is run; any other blank goes back to the trade that owns it before the visit is confirmed. Hazard: none, a desk step.

2. Verify the heat pump settings against the design, at the equipment. Read the backup heat lockout and staging at the thermostat or control board and compare with the balance point the HVAC designer recorded. Acceptance: backup heat locked out above the recorded balance point plus a 5 F margin, a shop default, and a supply temperature consistent with the manufacturer's expected range at today's outdoor temperature. Wrong looks like a lockout far above the balance point, which runs resistance heat when the heat pump could carry the house. Stop rule: correct it to the design value and record both settings; if no balance point was recorded, the HVAC designer supplies one before the visit closes. Hazard: reading temperatures at the outdoor unit puts hands near a fan that starts on its own; read through the grille or with the unit at its service disconnect opened and proved off, and keep clear of the coil during defrost, when the fan stops and restarts and the coil sheds water and steam.

3. Set and verify the water heater. Confirm the mode the household will run (heat pump only, hybrid, electric), the schedule if one applies, and the tank setpoint, then measure hot water temperature at the nearest tap after a full draw. Acceptance: tap temperature at or below 120 F unless a listed mixing valve is installed and set, the figure the CPSC recommends to reduce scald risk, and a condensate line visibly draining. Wrong looks like a tap reading above 120 F with no mixing valve, or a dry condensate line under a running unit. Stop rule: lower the setpoint and re-measure, or fit the mixing valve; a condensate fault goes to the plumber before the visit closes. Hazard: measure with a thermometer in a container under the stream, never with a hand, and keep the household clear of the tap during the draw.

4. Label everything that changed. Update the panel directory (NEC 408.4) for every new and removed circuit, mark circuits the energy management system controls, tag each capped gas line at the cap with "capped and abandoned" or "capped, still live upstream," the date and the shop, and tag the chimney's cleanout or thimble with what it serves now, including "nothing." Acceptance: the directory matches the breakers one for one, every cap tagged, the chimney tagged. Wrong looks like a directory entry for a furnace that is gone. Stop rule: the visit does not close with a directory that does not match. Hazard: the directory is on the panel door; the dead front stays on, because the conductors behind it are live with the main open.

5. Walk the thermostat owner through the house. At the thermostat, the supply register, the outdoor unit, the water heater and the panel, cover: supply air in the 90s F, long run times as normal, no deep setbacks, what AUX and EMERGENCY mean on the screen, defrost steam and sound, what the water heater modes do, and what it looks like when the energy management system pauses the charger or the water heater. Hand over the expectation sheet. Acceptance: the named thermostat owner has heard all of it and signed the sheet. Wrong looks like a household member saying "my partner handles the thermostat." Stop rule: rebook with the right person; do not mark the walkthrough done. Hazard: at the outdoor unit, the household stays outside the clearance while it runs, and nobody puts a hand into the fan grille to feel the air.

6. Check the CO alarms and the remaining gas appliances' status. If any gas appliance, fireplace or attached garage remains, confirm a working CO alarm on each level and outside sleeping areas by its test button, and read the venting card's result to the household. Acceptance: alarms present and sounding on test, and the household knows which appliances are still gas. Wrong looks like an alarm missing or past its replacement date. Stop rule: install or write up a missing alarm before leaving; where your state requires alarms on a fuel-burning installation, the work is not complete without one. Hazard: an alarm test is loud; warn the household first.

7. Return every system to its normal operating state. Close any service disconnect opened in step 2, take the thermostat and the energy management system out of any test or commissioning mode, confirm the charger's schedule and the water heater's mode are the household's choices, and let the heat pump run one full cycle. Acceptance: every system in normal mode, the heat pump running and holding setpoint, the energy management system showing its live setpoint. Wrong looks like a charger still paused by a test, or a thermostat left in EMERGENCY heat. Stop rule: anything left in test mode is corrected and re-verified before you leave. Hazard: this is the step that puts power back; stand clear of the outdoor unit when closing its disconnect, because the fan and compressor may start without warning, and confirm the household is away from it.

8. Schedule the first-winter follow-up call. Set the call for the first night forecast below 25 F after install, or 30 days into the heating season, whichever comes first, both shop defaults. Acceptance: a date or a weather trigger on the calendar, assigned to a named person. Wrong looks like "we'll check in." Stop rule: the job is not closed without the call scheduled. Hazard: none, a desk step.

9. File the record. Commissioning results, settings, labels photographed, signed sheet, follow-up date. Acceptance: all in the customer file the same day. Wrong looks like a sheet left only on the air handler. Stop rule: an incomplete file holds the final invoice. Hazard: none, a desk step.

The record this produces

A copy of the handover sheet stays taped inside the air handler's service door; the original goes to the customer file. The office reads it for the follow-up call; the next tech reads it before touching anything.

HANDOVER  - 2 story, full conversion, Feb 6
HEAT PUMP  charge OK to chart; 35 F out: ret 68, sup 99
           airflow: heating step 2 of 3
BACKUP     5 kW; balance pt 17 F; lockout 22 F
           (found 40 F, reset)
WATER HTR  hybrid, 120 F at kitchen tap, cond. draining
EMS        150 A setpoint; shed charger, then WH
GAS        all capped + abandoned, tagged; meter pulled
CHIMNEY    capped at crown, tagged "serves nothing"
ALARMS     none required, 1 kept in garage hall
WALKTHRU   J. (thermostat owner), signed
FOLLOW-UP  first night below 25 F, office: Dana

Worked pass

A full conversion closed out in early February.

Step 1: every trade's sheet in hand; venting card on file, marked "no remaining vented appliance." Pass.

Step 2: at 35 F outdoor, return 68 F, supply 99 F, inside the manufacturer's expected range. The designer's recorded balance point was 17 F, so the acceptance limit was 17 plus 5, or 22 F. The control board's backup lockout was at its factory setting of 40 F. Failed: 40 F is 18 F above the 22 F limit. Per the stop rule, the lead tech reset the lockout to 22 F and recorded both values. At the old setting, the strips would have been free to run on every morning recovery below 40 F, which in this climate is most of the winter.

Step 3: hybrid mode, kitchen tap 120 F after a full draw, condensate line draining into the floor drain. Pass.

Step 4: directory updated and matched breaker for breaker; three caps tagged; chimney tagged "serves nothing." Pass.

Step 5: the thermostat owner attended; every item covered; sheet signed. Pass.

Step 6: no gas appliances remain and the garage is detached, so no alarm is required; the household kept one alarm near the garage door by choice. Pass.

Step 7: outdoor disconnect closed with the household inside; thermostat in normal heat, energy management showing 150 A live; one full cycle held setpoint. Pass.

Steps 8 and 9: follow-up set to the first night forecast below 25 F, assigned to the office; file complete that afternoon.

References

• U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission guidance on water heater temperature and scald prevention
• The heat pump and control manufacturers' installation and commissioning instructions for the installed equipment
• NFPA 70, National Electrical Code, 408.4 (circuit directory), as adopted by your jurisdiction
• See related: How to Set Expectations for the First Heat Pump Winter
• See related: How to Document a Converted House for the Next Tech