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By Mario Vaghei, General Manager, Aire One Peel Heating & Cooling · Published November 12, 2024 · Facts verified September 4, 2026
Choosing an HVAC repair company in Ontario is mostly a verification job, not a judgement call. Four different bodies license the work that happens inside a house, each covers a different task, and every one of them publishes a way for you to check a contractor before you let them in. If you are further along and comparing firms rather than checking them, our guide to the best HVAC company in Mississauga covers that side.
On this page
- The five checks, and who issues each one
- Which credential covers which job
- How to verify an HVAC repair company in about ten minutes
- What no contractor may sell you at your door
- Questions to ask, and the answers that should worry you
- What it costs you when the check is skipped
- Run the same checks on us
- Which credential does your job need?
- How we know this
- Watch: the team behind the advice
- Frequently asked questions
- The short version
- Sources and references
Short answer
Check five things before you hire an HVAC repair company in Ontario: the company’s TSSA fuels registration, the technician’s TSSA gas certificate, a 313A or 313D Certificate of Qualification for air conditioning work, an ECRA or ESA licence for electrical work, and proof of insurance with a WSIB clearance certificate.
Four of the five are free public lookups you can run before the visit. Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Systems Mechanic 313A and Residential Air Conditioning Systems Mechanic 313D are compulsory trades in Ontario, which means the person doing that work must hold the certificate rather than merely claim experience.
Key takeaways
- One company can be properly registered for gas work and still have nobody qualified to touch the refrigerant. They are separate credentials from separate bodies.
- The Technical Standards and Safety Authority states that registered fuels contractors are the only businesses legally authorized to do fuels related work in Ontario.
- Electrical work belongs to a Licensed Electrical Contractor. Their number looks like ECRA/ESA 7999999 and it must appear on their estimate, card and vehicle.
- Furnaces, air conditioners and water heaters cannot be sold to you through an unsolicited visit to your home. A contract signed that way is void under the Consumer Protection Act, 2002.
- Ask for a WSIB clearance certificate. Without one, an injury on your property can become your problem.
The five checks, and who issues each one
Five separate credentials govern the work an HVAC repair company does in an Ontario home, and no single one of them covers everything. That is the part most homeowners get wrong. A contractor can be entirely legitimate on gas and have no standing at all on the electrical side, because the two are licensed by different regulators under different rules.
| Check | Who issues it | Company or person | What it covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fuels contractor registration, an FS number | Technical Standards and Safety Authority | Company | The business may perform gas work at all. TSSA states registered fuels contractors are the only businesses legally authorized to do fuels related work in Ontario |
| Gas technician certificate, G.3, G.2 or G.1 | Technical Standards and Safety Authority | Person | The individual attending may work on gas appliances. G.3 is the entry class and G.1 the broadest |
| Certificate of Qualification 313A or 313D | Skilled Trades Ontario | Person | Air conditioning and refrigeration work. Both are compulsory trades, so the certificate is not optional |
| Contractor licence, ECRA/ESA 7999999 format | Electrical Safety Authority | Company | Electrical work in your home. Only a Licensed Electrical Contractor may be hired to do it |
| Insurance and a WSIB clearance certificate | The insurer, and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board | Company | Who pays if something is damaged, and who pays if a worker is hurt on your property |
The refrigerant rule deserves its own sentence, because it is the one that catches people out. Under O. Reg. 463/10, Ozone Depleting Substances and Other Halocarbons, no person may service or test equipment containing a refrigerant unless they are certified, and discharging refrigerant into the environment or inside a building is prohibited outright. So a company that arrives to top up your air conditioning without that qualification is not cutting a corner on quality. They are breaking a regulation.
Which credential covers which job
Four separate bodies license the work. Compiled by Aire One Peel from the Technical Standards and Safety Authority, the Skilled Trades Ontario compulsory trades list and the Electrical Safety Authority, September 4, 2026.
Match the credential to the job in front of you, because asking for all five on every visit is not realistic and asking for none is how people get hurt. A blocked condensate drain and a gas valve replacement are not the same errand.
| The job at your house | What you should ask to see | Regulator |
|---|---|---|
| Furnace repair, gas valve, burner, venting, gas water heater | Company FS registration plus the attending technician’s G.2 or G.1 | TSSA |
| Air conditioner or heat pump repair involving refrigerant | 313A or 313D Certificate of Qualification, plus the refrigerant handling certification | Skilled Trades Ontario, and O. Reg. 463/10 |
| A new circuit, a disconnect, or rewiring for equipment | The ECRA/ESA contractor licence number | Electrical Safety Authority |
| Duct work, sheet metal, a new return | Sheet metal trade credentials, and the municipal building permit where one applies | Skilled Trades Ontario, your municipality |
| Filter changes, thermostat swaps on low voltage, clearing debris | Nothing. This is homeowner work and no contractor should charge you to be told otherwise | None |
That last row is deliberate. Some of what gets sold as a service call is work you can do yourself in ten minutes, and our guide to getting an air conditioner ready for summer lists the free tasks so you can tell the difference before you book anything.
How to verify an HVAC repair company in about ten minutes
Every one of these checks is public, free, and possible before the contractor arrives. Do them in this order, because the first two rule out the majority of problems on gas work and the third is the one almost nobody asks for.
- Search the TSSA registered fuels contractor list. You can search by company name, by authorization number, or by city and postal code. TSSA notes that a listing is not an endorsement, only a confirmation of registration, which is exactly what you want it for.
- Ask the technician for their gas card when they arrive. The certificate class is printed on it. G.3, G.2 and G.1 are real classes; a laminated company badge is not a certificate.
- For anything touching refrigerant, ask for the 313A or 313D certificate. These are compulsory trades in Ontario, listed alongside plumber and electrician, so the person has either earned the certificate or is a registered apprentice working under supervision.
- Check the electrical licence on the Electrical Safety Authority contractor lookup, or call 1-877-ESA-SAFE and choose option 3. The number on the estimate should look like ECRA/ESA 7999999.
- Ask for a certificate of insurance and a WSIB clearance certificate. Both are documents the company can send in minutes. A firm that hesitates on this one has told you something.
None of this requires you to be technical. You are matching a name against a registry and reading a number off a card, and it is the same procedure whether the company is us, a competitor down the road, or a van that turned up at your door.
What no contractor may sell you at your door
In Ontario, HVAC equipment cannot be sold or leased to you through an unsolicited visit to your home, and a contract signed as a result of one is void. This is the strongest consumer protection on this page and it is the least known.
Know this before you open the door
Under the Consumer Protection Act, 2002, if you sign a contract for a restricted product or service as a result of restricted door-to-door marketing, the contract is considered void and you can keep the goods or services without obligation. There is also a 10 day cooling off period to cancel a contract for any reason, starting when you receive a written copy, and up to one year if the contract is missing information the law requires.
If someone has pressured a member of your household into signing at the door, contact Consumer Protection Ontario at 1-800-889-9768. Do not sign anything to make a doorstep visit end.
| Restricted at the door | Still allowed |
|---|---|
| Furnaces, air conditioners, air cleaners and air purifiers | A visit you booked yourself, by phone, online or in person |
| Water heaters, water treatment devices, water purifiers, water filters and water softeners | A quote for work you asked a company to come and price |
| Duct cleaning services | A scheduled service call under a plan you already hold |
Questions to ask, and the answers that should worry you
Four questions separate a company that will show its paperwork from one that would rather talk about something else. Ask them on the phone, before anyone is standing in your basement holding a wrench.
| Ask this | A good answer sounds like | Worry if you hear |
|---|---|---|
| What is your TSSA fuels registration number? | A number given immediately, without checking | “We are fully certified” with no number offered |
| Which certificate class holds the technician you are sending? | “G.2”, or “313D for the AC side” | “All our people are experienced” |
| If this needs electrical work, who does it? | A named Licensed Electrical Contractor, or their own ECRA/ESA number | “Our guys can handle that” |
| Can you email a WSIB clearance certificate and proof of insurance? | “Yes, today” | Hesitation, or an offer to bring it later |
Notice what is not on that list: how long the company has been in business, how many trucks it runs, and how many five star reviews it has. Those are worth something, but none of them is checkable in a public registry, and none of them makes the work legal.
What it costs you when the check is skipped
The cost of hiring an unqualified HVAC repair company lands on the homeowner, not on the contractor, which is the reverse of what most people assume. The company can disappear. The furnace, the wiring and the liability stay in your house.
| What was skipped | What can follow | Who carries it |
|---|---|---|
| Gas work by an unregistered business | Work that was never legally authorized, and a gas appliance nobody will certify afterwards | The homeowner |
| Electrical work without a Licensed Electrical Contractor | No notification filed with the Electrical Safety Authority, so no inspection and no certificate of acceptance | The homeowner |
| Refrigerant handled by an uncertified person | A regulated substance released, and a leak that was topped up instead of found | The homeowner, twice |
| No WSIB clearance certificate | An injury on your property with no coverage behind it | The homeowner |
Warranty is the quieter version of the same problem. Parts and labour coverage depends on who installed the equipment and how the work was recorded, which our guide to HVAC labour warranty in Ontario sets out in detail. A cheap repair by the wrong person can end up costing you a covered claim later.
Run the same checks on us
Aire One Peel is a TSSA-registered fuels contractor and the registration number is FS R0076624709, which you can put into the TSSA registry yourself before you call us. We would rather you checked than took our word for it, because a page telling you to verify contractors is worth nothing if it exempts the company that published it.
Two other things we can stand behind: we are a Carrier Factory Authorized Dealer, which Carrier lists on its own dealer pages, and we are a BBB Accredited Business. When a technician attends, ask them for their gas certificate class, and for a 313A or 313D card if the job involves refrigerant. That is the right question to ask us, exactly as it is the right question to ask anyone else.
The possible downside of calling us. We are a heating and cooling contractor, not a Licensed Electrical Contractor. If your job turns out to be an electrical one, we are not the right firm for that part and you will need an LEC, which means a second trade and a second bill. We would rather say that here than discover it with you in the basement. For the gas and cooling side, our furnace repair team covers Mississauga, Brampton, Etobicoke, Milton, Georgetown, Caledon and Bolton.
Which credential does your job need?
Two questions, and every answer it gives also appears in the tables above, so nothing here is exclusive to the tool.
Credential finder
1 of 2. What is the equipment?
This finder needs JavaScript. Every answer it gives also appears in the tables above.
How we know this
Every credential, registry and rule on this page was read from the body that issues it on September 4, 2026, and where we do not have a number we say so rather than estimate one.
The fuels contractor position and the registry search come from the Technical Standards and Safety Authority. The compulsory trade status of 313A and 313D comes from the Skilled Trades Ontario compulsory trades list. The ECRA/ESA number format, the lookup tool and the phone option come from the Electrical Safety Authority. The refrigerant rules come from O. Reg. 463/10, Ozone Depleting Substances and Other Halocarbons. The door-to-door restrictions, the void contract, the 10 day cooling off period and the Consumer Protection Ontario line come from the Government of Ontario page on door-to-door sales and home service contracts, under the Consumer Protection Act, 2002.
What this page does not claim: any figure for how many unqualified contractors operate in Peel Region, any price for a service call, and any credential for ourselves beyond the TSSA fuels registration named above. We publish no counted first-party statistic here because we have not measured one, and a number we cannot defend is worse than no number. Compiled by Mario Vaghei, General Manager. General Manager is a company role and not a trade credential, and no certification is claimed for the author anywhere on this page.
Watch: the team behind the advice
These are company and furnace clips from our own channel. They are not evidence of any credential, and no clip on this page should be read as one.
Video 1 of 3
Heating and cooling, Peel Region
Check our registration first, then call us
TSSA-registered fuels contractor FS R0076624709. Free in-home estimates across Mississauga, Brampton, Etobicoke, Milton, Georgetown, Caledon and Bolton. Financing and rent-to-own available. 1625 Courtneypark Dr E, Mississauga, ON L5T 1V9.
Frequently asked questions
How to check if a contractor is licensed and insured in Ontario?
Check each credential with the body that issues it. Search the company on the Technical Standards and Safety Authority registered fuels contractor list for gas work, verify an electrical contractor on the Electrical Safety Authority lookup or by calling 1-877-ESA-SAFE, and ask the technician to show a gas certificate or a 313A or 313D card. For insurance, ask the company to email a certificate of insurance and a WSIB clearance certificate.
Do contractors have to be licensed in Ontario?
For HVAC work, yes, in several separate ways. The Technical Standards and Safety Authority states that registered fuels contractors are the only businesses legally authorized to do fuels related work in Ontario. Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Systems Mechanic 313A and Residential Air Conditioning Systems Mechanic 313D are compulsory trades. Electrical work may only be carried out by a Licensed Electrical Contractor.
What Should I Ask Before Hiring HVAC Repair?
Ask four things. What is your TSSA fuels registration number, which certificate class does the attending technician hold, who does the electrical work if any is needed, and can you email a WSIB clearance certificate with proof of insurance. A company that answers all four without hesitating has told you more than any review page can.
What are the most important questions to ask a contractor?
The ones with checkable answers. Registration numbers, certificate classes, insurance documents and a written scope of work can all be verified by you afterwards. Questions about experience, brand loyalty and how many trucks the firm runs cannot be. Ask the checkable ones first and treat the rest as conversation.
How to get your HVAC license in Ontario?
A technician earns a Certificate of Qualification through Skilled Trades Ontario by completing an apprenticeship and passing the exam for the trade, such as 313A or 313D, and gas work is certified separately by the Technical Standards and Safety Authority in classes G.3, G.2 and G.1. It matters to a homeowner because it tells you what the card in front of you actually represents.
What is the most reliable HVAC company?
No Ontario regulator publishes a reliability ranking of HVAC companies, so any page naming a single winner is offering an opinion rather than a measurement. What is published, and what you can check yourself in minutes, is whether a company holds the registrations and certificates the work requires. Start there, then use reviews and quotes to choose between the companies that pass.
Can a company sell me a furnace at my door in Ontario?
No. Furnaces, air conditioners, air cleaners, air purifiers, water heaters, water treatment devices, water purifiers, water filters, water softeners and duct cleaning services cannot be sold or leased through an unsolicited visit to your home. If you sign as a result of restricted door-to-door marketing, the contract is void under the Consumer Protection Act, 2002 and you can keep the goods or services without obligation.
The short version
Verify five things about an HVAC repair company and the rest of the decision gets much easier. The company’s TSSA fuels registration, the technician’s gas certificate class, a 313A or 313D certificate for anything touching refrigerant, an ECRA or ESA licence for electrical work, and insurance backed by a WSIB clearance certificate. Four of the five are public lookups you can do before anyone arrives.
Then remember the door rule, because it is the one that costs households the most money in this province. HVAC equipment cannot be sold to you through an unsolicited visit, and a contract signed that way is void. Nobody legitimate needs your signature at your doorstep tonight.
Our own number is FS R0076624709 and the registry is open to you right now. Once you have checked it, call 905-564-8545 or book a free in-home estimate, and if the job turns out to be electrical we will tell you that rather than take it on.
Mario Vaghei
General Manager, Aire One Peel Heating & Cooling
Rebuilt this guide on September 4, 2026, reading the fuels contractor position off the Technical Standards and Safety Authority, the compulsory trade list off Skilled Trades Ontario, the licence format and lookup off the Electrical Safety Authority, the refrigerant rules off O. Reg. 463/10, and the door-to-door restrictions off the Government of Ontario. General Manager is a company role and not a trade credential, and no certification is claimed for the author on this page.
Sources and references
- Technical Standards and Safety Authority, authorized heating fuel contractors. Registered fuels contractors are the only businesses legally authorized to do fuels related work in Ontario, and the registry search by name, authorization number or city. Read September 4, 2026.
- Skilled Trades Ontario, compulsory trades list. Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Systems Mechanic 313A and Residential Air Conditioning Systems Mechanic 313D both appear on the compulsory list. Read September 4, 2026.
- Electrical Safety Authority, hiring an electrician or contractor. Only Licensed Electrical Contracting Businesses may be hired for electrical work, the ECRA/ESA 7999999 number format, the contractor lookup tool and 1-877-ESA-SAFE option 3. Read September 4, 2026.
- Government of Ontario, door-to-door sales and home service contracts. The restricted product list, the void contract rule, the 10 day cooling off period and Consumer Protection Ontario at 1-800-889-9768. Consumer Protection Act, 2002. Read September 4, 2026.
- O. Reg. 463/10, Ozone Depleting Substances and Other Halocarbons. Certification requirements for servicing equipment containing refrigerant, and the prohibition on discharge. Read September 4, 2026.