NYS Clean Heat for contractors: Manual J and sizing rules

NYS Clean Heat is New York's statewide heat pump incentive program for one- to four-family homes, run by the state's electric utilities with NYSERDA. For contractors, three things matter most: you must be an approved Participating Contractor, every space heating application needs a Manual J, and the system must be sized to the full heating load under Manual S using real performance data at design temperature.

Who runs NYS Clean Heat

The program is administered by six electric utilities: Central Hudson, Con Edison, National Grid, NYSEG, Orange & Rockland and RG&E (Section 1.1). NYSERDA's role covers workforce development, codes and standards, technical assistance, demonstration pilots and consumer education. NYSERDA is the primary administrator for low- and moderate-income incentives. A Joint Management Committee of the utilities and NYSERDA oversees incentive structure, eligible technologies and program rules.

For 2026 to 2030, the program covers residential buildings with one to four dwelling units. Larger multifamily and commercial customers are served by separate utility programs. The consumer site is cleanheat.ny.gov and the contractor resources live on the NYS Clean Heat Contractor Toolkit.

Becoming a Participating Contractor

Air-source heat pump installers and designers, air-to-water installers, and ground source installers, designers and drillers must join the Participating Contractor Network before applying for incentives (Section 4.1). You submit, through the contractor portal:

• Utility Participating Contractor Agreement
• NYS Participating Contractor Application
• IRS Form W-9
• Certificate of insurance (minimum $1 million)
• Role-specific documentation (Table 34)

For air-source heat pump installers, Table 34 requires a manufacturer-sponsored installation training certificate (or comparable) and a manufacturer-sponsored cold climate air-source heat pump sizing and design training certificate. ASHP designers need an active NYS PE or Registered Architect license plus the sizing and design training. EPA Section 608 certification applies as federal law requires.

Contractors are classified into participation statuses and may receive badges, defined in separate Upstate and Con Edison Quality Policies and Procedures documents (Section 5.4). In Con Edison territory, Version 3 adds 100% inspection of a new contractor's first five projects (version history, Section 4.2.1.2).

Load calculation (Manual J) requirements

Section 3.2 sets the core rule: residential heat pumps "shall be sized in accordance with ACCA Manual S (2023) based on design loads calculated in accordance with ACCA Manual J (8th Ed., 2016)," or an alternative method approved by the authority having jurisdiction. Program Administrators may ask for written justification of your inputs.

The Manual J is a required application document (Section 4.2.2.2). It must:

• Follow ACCA Manual J or a code-approved equivalent. Other methods must show AHJ sign-off.
• Allocate and identify loads for separate dwelling units where applicable.
• Be submitted in PDF format unless otherwise requested.

Design temperatures (Section 3.2.1)

• Heating load at the 99% dry bulb heating design temperature for the most relevant ASHRAE (2021) location.
• Cooling load at the 1% dry bulb cooling design temperature for the same location.
• The program's Design Temperature Lookup Tool gives values by ZIP code. You may select temperatures within 5°F (plus or minus) of the tool's value.
• Indoor design temperatures should not exceed 72°F for heating and not be below 75°F for cooling.
• A local AHJ or manufacturer requirement can supersede these, with documentation.

Conditioned space (Section 3.2.2)

Size for all conditioned space: anything the old system heated, anything the heat pump will heat and cool, and spaces inside the envelope heated indirectly, such as closets and halls. Unfinished basements are not conditioned space.

If you are new to load calcs, start with our Manual J guide.

Sizing rules: full load and oversizing

Only systems sized to meet the full heating load of the project scope are eligible (Section 2.1.1). For a single-family home, the scope is the whole building.

From Section 3.2:

• The system must satisfy at least 100% of the building heating load (BHL) at design conditions.
• It must distribute heat to all occupied spaces and serve at least 80% of the building's conditioned square footage.
• Where the cooling load is larger than the heating load, size to the full cooling load under Manual S.
• A sizing justification letter is required when heating is dominant and heating capacity exceeds 120% of BHL, or cooling is dominant and cooling capacity exceeds 115% of the building cooling load.

What capacity numbers to use

Equipment sizing must use manufacturers' extended performance tables, engineering data or manufacturer software at the local design temperatures. The manual is explicit: "Sizing shall not be based on nominal size or AHRI rated capacities." If manufacturer data is not available, the NEEP product sheet may be used for NEEP-listed equipment, and applications must include the NEEP specification sheet.

For multi-zone systems, each outdoor unit is sized on the block load of the space it serves, which is generally smaller than the sum of zone loads. Version 3 also removed the earlier allowance for electric resistance heating up to 10% of BHL (version history).

Read cold climate heat pump sizing for how to select on capacity at design temperature, and estimate a starting point with the heat pump sizing calculator.

Estimate only. Not a substitute for a room-by-room Manual J.

Equipment eligibility

• Air-source heat pumps must be listed on the NEEP Cold Climate ASHP list or meet the manual's criteria for equipment not covered by it (Section 3.1.1). Listed units are AHRI 210/240 tested, single-phase, and under 65,000 Btu/h cooling capacity.
• Air-to-water heat pumps must be on the NYS Clean Heat AWHP Qualified Product List. Separate ENERGY STAR and NEEP lists are no longer accepted for AWHP (Section 3.1.1.2).
• Ground source heat pumps must meet the ENERGY STAR Geothermal Heat Pump specification and 100% of the load at design (Section 2.1.2).

Incentive structure

Space heating incentives fall under these categories (Section 2.1.2):

• Category 2: ccASHP, residential full load heating
• Category 2a: ccASHP full load with integrated controls (Con Edison only)
• Category 2b: ccASHP full load with decommissioning of the fossil system
• Category 3: GSHP, residential full load heating
• Category 4: partial to full load, where new equipment covers more than 50% of BHL

Installing new fossil fuel equipment together with an eligible heat pump is prohibited. Rates vary by utility, single-family vs apartment, Disadvantaged Community (DAC) status and the new Weatherized Tier, introduced September 1, 2026, which has its own rates in the incentive tables for homes that qualify through a post-2010 build, past weatherization program participation, or a heating load per square foot below a set standard.

Incentives are capped at 70% of project costs, or 85% in Central Hudson territory or for DAC projects receiving DAC-specific incentives (Section 2.1). For dollar amounts, check the current program manual for your utility's table (Sections 2.2.3 to 2.2.7).

What goes in the application

All space heating projects submit (Section 4.2.2.2):

• Completed program application
• Cut sheets for the installed models
• Customer invoice with labor and materials separated and the incentive shown as a discount
• Customer Participation Acknowledgement Form
• Manual J load calculation (PDF)
• Time- and date-stamped photos
• Decommissioning checklist, if applicable
• Weatherized Tier documentation, if applicable

Incomplete applications must be fixed within 30 days of notice or they are cancelled.

How Tradewright helps

Tradewright runs a room-by-room Manual J at the program's design conditions, selects equipment from manufacturer data at design temperature, and generates the NYS Clean Heat documentation from the same design. See rebate documentation.

See NYS Clean Heat documentation generated from a real design