HVAC warranty registration deadlines, brand by brand
Updated September 2026 · Applies to residential equipment in the United States
Almost every furnace, air conditioner and heat pump sold in the US ships with two warranties: a short one you get automatically, and a long one you get only if the unit is registered with the manufacturer within 60 or 90 days of installation. Miss the window and the parts warranty quietly drops — on most brands, from ten years to five. Nobody sends a reminder, and nobody notices until a part fails in year six or seven.
The deadlines at a glance
| Brand | Window | Registered parts coverage | If never registered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goodman / Amana | 60 days | 10 years (lifetime compressor on select units) | 5 years |
| Daikin | 60 days | Up to 12 years on qualifying systems | 5 years |
| Trane / American Standard | 60 days | Registered Limited — typically 10 years | Base Limited — 5 years |
| Lennox | 60 days | 10 years on qualifying tiers | 5 years |
| Ducane / AirEase / Armstrong Air | 60 days | 10 years parts | 5 years parts, 20-year heat exchanger |
| Carrier / Bryant | 90 days | 10 years | 5 years |
| Rheem / Ruud | 90 days | 10 years | 5 years |
| YORK / Coleman / Luxaire | 90 days | 10 years parts; lifetime compressor / heat exchanger on select lines | Shorter base terms |
Terms change and vary by model tier and install date. This table reflects the general residential terms each manufacturer publishes as of September 2026 — always confirm against the warranty certificate for your specific model and serial number before relying on it.
What missing the window actually costs
The gap between five years and ten years of parts coverage lands on exactly the wrong components. Compressors, blower motors, control boards and coils fail most often in years six through ten — after the base warranty has expired, inside the window the registered warranty would have covered.
A failed compressor on an out-of-warranty system typically runs $2,000–$3,500 in parts before labor. Industry estimates put the share of residential installs that are never registered at roughly one in three. The homeowner eats the bill, and — fairly or not — the one-star review usually lands on the shop that installed the unit, not the manufacturer that denied the claim.
State exceptions: California, Florida, Georgia
A few jurisdictions don't let manufacturers condition warranty coverage on registration. In California, Florida and Quebec, unregistered owners are entitled to the registered coverage terms anyway. Georgia joined them on January 1, 2026, when SB 112 took effect for units sold after that date.
Two important caveats. First, the protection follows the state where the unit is installed — a shop working across state lines can't assume it. Second, protected coverage is not the same as provable coverage: when a claim is disputed in year seven, the file that wins is still the one with the install date, serial number and paperwork in it. Registration remains the cleanest proof there is, even where the law says coverage survives without it.
Who registers it — and why so many units fall through
Manufacturers accept registration from either the homeowner or the installing contractor. That flexibility is exactly how units fall through: the installer assumes the homeowner will do it, the homeowner assumes the installer already did, and the 60- or 90-day clock runs out on both of them.
The reliable test takes one question: where is the confirmation number? Every successful registration produces one. If neither the homeowner nor the shop can put their hands on it, the safe assumption is that the unit was never registered.
How to check a unit that's already installed
- Find the model and serial number on the data plate — outdoor units carry it on the side panel, furnaces inside the cabinet door.
- Goodman, Amana, Lennox, Carrier and Bryant offer online warranty lookups by serial number on their owner-support sites.
- Other brands confirm coverage by phone — have the serial and the install date ready.
- If the unit is still inside its registration window, register it now and save the confirmation number with the install records.
Run an HVAC shop? Find out where your last 12 months stand — free.
Send us brand, serial and install date for your recent installs and we'll check every unit: which ones are registered, which windows are still open, and how many days are left on each. You get the answer in writing, whatever it says.
Get the free auditFor contractors: the window is a workflow problem
Shops that register every install don't have better memories — they have a system. Each brand has its own portal, its own form and its own clock, and an office juggling five portals during peak season is where the one-in-three failure rate comes from.
That workflow is what TenKeeper exists for: every install's window tracked from day one, each brand's form pre-filled, and the confirmation number stored on the unit as permanent proof — plus a coverage certificate for the homeowner with your shop's name on it. It's $79 a month per shop, and the audit above is free either way.
Related guides
This guide is general information, not legal advice, and TenKeeper is not affiliated with any manufacturer named above. Warranty terms are set by each manufacturer and can change; the certificate issued for your specific unit always governs.