A manufacturer's HVAC warranty covers the part, not the work. When a covered component fails you still pay a $90–$150 diagnostic and the labour to fit the replacement — commonly the same $150–$800 range as any repair, minus the cost of the part itself. Two things decide whether you get even that: registering the equipment inside the manufacturer's window, usually 60 to 90 days from installation, and being able to produce dated maintenance invoices when a claim is filed.
You Have Up to Three Separate Warranties
People talk about "the warranty" as one thing. On a typical GTA install there are three, from three different parties, with different terms.
- The manufacturer's parts warranty, from the brand. Covers defective components — control boards, gas valves, compressors, heat exchangers — for a stated term, and covers only the part
- The installer's labour warranty, from the contractor who fitted it. Usually one year on workmanship as standard, sometimes longer if it was written into the quote. This is the one that covers a leaking flare, an undersized vent or a bad condensate slope
- An optional extended or labour-plus-parts plan, sold by the manufacturer through a distributor or by a third-party administrator. This is a purchased contract, not a manufacturer's obligation, and its terms are entirely its own
Ask which of the three you actually have before you need one. The answer usually lives on the install invoice and on a registration confirmation email that most people never keep.
Registration: The Window That Halves Your Coverage
Most major brands publish a headline term — commonly 10 years on parts — that applies only to units registered inside a set window after installation, typically 60 to 90 days. Miss it and the equipment usually falls back to a shorter base term, often five years, on the same hardware.
Registration takes minutes with the model and serial number off the data plate. Many contractors do it for you; not all do, and "we take care of it" is worth verifying with a confirmation you can see. Do it yourself the week the install is finished if there is any doubt — the deadline runs from the installation date, not from the day you notice.
What Is Typically Covered
- Functional parts that fail from a manufacturing defect: gas valve, control board, inducer motor, blower motor, igniter, pressure switch, contactor, capacitor
- The compressor on an air conditioner or heat pump, usually under a longer term than general parts
- The heat exchanger on a furnace, often for 20 years and on some models for as long as the original buyer owns the home
- Sealed refrigeration components on ductless and inverter equipment, where the term often depends on registration and on the installer's credentials
What Is Not Covered
- Labour. This is the big one — a covered control board still costs you the diagnostic and the fitting time, and on a furnace that is a real bill
- Freight and handling on the replacement part, which some distributors charge separately
- Refrigerant, and almost always the labour to find the leak it escaped from
- Consumables: filters, humidifier pads, belts, fuses, thermostat batteries
- Damage from a power surge, a flood, a lightning strike or rodents — those belong to your home insurance, not the manufacturer
- Anything traced to installation error, which is the installer's responsibility rather than the brand's
- Damage from running the system during construction without proper filtration, an exclusion most manufacturers write in explicitly
What Actually Gets a Claim Denied
Free quotes, written pricing.
Denials cluster around four things, and all four are avoidable. Missed registration is the most common. No maintenance records is the second — most manufacturers write annual professional service into their terms and ask for dated invoices when the claim is large.
The third is unlicensed or undocumented installation. Gas work in Ontario has to be done by a TSSA-licensed technician, and refrigerant work needs an ODP card; an install with no permit and no licensed name attached to it is difficult to defend when a manufacturer asks who fitted the unit — why your technician's licence and insurance matter covers what to verify before work starts.
The fourth is a documented cause outside the part. A blower motor that failed against a filter nobody changed in three years, or a compressor that ran on a low charge from an untreated leak, gets reported as such by the technician who opens it up. Manufacturers do read those reports.
How a Claim Actually Runs
You call a licensed contractor, not the manufacturer. The technician diagnoses the fault, reads the model and serial number, and checks warranty status through the brand's distributor portal. If the part is covered, it is ordered against the claim and fitted; you are invoiced for the diagnostic, the labour and any handling charge.
Two practical notes. Stock parts often arrive quickly from a GTA distributor, while a compressor or a specialty board can take considerably longer — ask about lead time before you decide to wait rather than repair another way. And when the covered part is a heat exchanger on an older furnace, run the arithmetic first: the labour alone is $1,500–$3,000, and repair versus replacement usually points to new equipment on a unit old enough to crack.
Extended Warranties: When They Are Worth Buying
The question to ask is who backs it. A labour-and-parts plan administered by the manufacturer through a distributor is a different product from a contract sold by a local company that may not be trading in eight years. Read for the deductible per visit, whether a diagnostic fee still applies, whether annual maintenance is a condition, and whether the coverage transfers if you sell.
They tend to make sense on complex, expensive-to-service equipment — inverter heat pumps, modulating furnaces, communicating controls — where a single board can approach $500–$1,200 and diagnosis takes real time. They make less sense on a single-stage furnace whose likely failures are an igniter or a capacitor at $150–$450, which is roughly what several years of premiums would come to. For what individual repairs cost, see furnace repair costs in Toronto.
Verdict: The Five-Item Warranty Checklist
- Register the equipment within 60 to 90 days of installation and save the confirmation
- Keep the install invoice with the model and serial number, plus the permit and any ESA authorization
- Book annual professional maintenance and file every dated invoice — the paperwork is the claim
- Change filters on schedule, because a starved system produces the exact failures manufacturers exclude
- Before authorising any large repair, ask the technician to check warranty status first; on a covered part it changes the arithmetic entirely
ZK Mechanical installs and services Lennox, Carrier, Trane, Goodman, Rheem, Daikin, York, Amana, KeepRite and Napoleon equipment across Burlington, Oakville, Hamilton and the wider GTA, and files warranty claims through the distributor on the brands we service. Our maintenance plans also produce the dated records a manufacturer will ask for. Send us your model and serial number and we will tell you what coverage you still have.
Frequently asked questions
Does an HVAC warranty cover labour?
Almost never. The manufacturer supplies the replacement part; you pay the diagnostic, usually $90–$150, plus the labour to fit it and any freight or handling. The installer's own workmanship warranty covers installation faults, typically for a year. Only a purchased extended plan bundles parts and labour together, and those carry their own deductibles and conditions.
What voids an HVAC warranty in Ontario?
Four things account for most denials: failing to register the equipment inside the manufacturer's window, having no dated maintenance records, installation by someone without the required TSSA licence or ODP card, and damage traced to neglect such as a blocked filter or an untreated refrigerant leak. Surge, flood and rodent damage are excluded too, and belong to home insurance.
How long do I have to register a new furnace or air conditioner?
Typically 60 to 90 days from the installation date, depending on the brand. Registering keeps the headline term, commonly 10 years on parts; missing the window usually drops the unit to a shorter base term on the same hardware. You need the model and serial number from the data plate. If your contractor registered it for you, ask to see the confirmation.
Is the heat exchanger really covered for 20 years?
Often, and sometimes for as long as the original buyer owns the home — but only the part. The labour to remove a furnace, replace a heat exchanger and recommission it runs $1,500–$3,000, which is why replacement usually wins on a furnace old enough to crack one. Transfer terms to a new owner are limited and sometimes require notice within a set period after a sale.