Freshness policy

Two tiers

Volatile: tax credits, rebates, refrigerant phasedown dates, and minimum efficiency standards. Re-verified every 90 days. Each carries a visible “Verified: date” stamp.

Stable: physics, equipment types, troubleshooting, and definitions.

Why this exists

An out-of-date incentive page is worse than no page — it costs a reader real money. This area changed repeatedly between 2023 and 2026: the federal tax credits ended, and EPA revised the refrigerant installation deadline in May 2026.

Automated enforcement

The build fails if a volatile page is missing a visible verified-on date, and warns when that date exceeds 120 days. Both checks run in CI on every build.

Who owns it

The HVACBuddy Editorial Team owns the re-verification calendar. Every R3 claim, its source URL and its verification date are recorded in the repository's regulatory sourcing log.