How Do You Get an HVAC License in Delaware?

Yes.

The Delaware Board of Plumbing, Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Examiners — part of the Division of Professional Regulation — licenses HVACR work statewide, and it issues only master-level licenses: Master Plumber, Master HVACR and Master HVACR Restricted.

There is no state journeyman license.

The statute lets an apprentice, journeyman, mechanic or other person perform HVACR services without a license of their own when they work under the supervision of a Master HVACR or Master HVACR Restricted licensee who is their employer or is employed full time by the same business.

The requirement therefore reaches the trade through the master on staff, not through a license each worker carries.

Delaware's HVACR ladder has two rungs, both master level.

A Master HVACR Restricted licensee is limited to one specialty: forced-air heating/ventilation/gas piping, hydronic heating/gas piping, commercial hood systems, refrigeration, air conditioning, or gas piping.

The Master HVACR license carries no such specialty limit.

Below the masters there is no journeyman or technician rung — the Board issues master-level licenses only, and the journeyman certificate from an apprenticeship is a prerequisite toward the master license, not a license of its own.

On the business side, an HVAC company must have a Master HVACR or Master HVACR Restricted licensee supervising its workers, and its unlicensed employees may only do HVACR work under a master who is their employer or works full time for the same business.

One boundary matters in the field: a Master HVACR or Master HVACR Restricted licensee who also designs, installs or repairs water supply and drainage piping needs a Master Plumber license as well.

Delaware gives Master HVACR applicants two experience routes.

The first is a journeyman certificate from an apprenticeship that meets federal standards plus 2 years under the supervision of a master; the second is 7 years performing HVACR services under a master plus passing the apprenticeship equivalency — or 'by-pass' — test.

Either way, the applicant must then pass the master exam.

Delaware is a State Apprenticeship Agency state, and the acceptable journeyman certificate is one issued by a federally-approved HVACR apprenticeship program — the Board names the Delaware Department of Labor's program as an example.

The Board also requires EPA CFC (Section 608) certification at the appropriate level of Master HVACR applicants and of applicants for the restricted refrigeration or air-conditioning specialties.

The application fee is $173 for Master HVACR or Master HVACR Restricted, and a temporary license costs $40; renewing late adds 50% of the renewal fee.

The Board uses two outside vendors.

ProV administers the required licensure examinations for the Plumbing and HVACR trades, in person in Wilmington, Newark and Dover or remotely through ExamRoom.

The apprenticeship by-pass exam is a separate thing: the statute places the equivalency test with a Delaware vocational-technical school, and the Board's examinations page names Associated Builders and Contractors Delaware (ABC Delaware) as the vendor that administers it.

Our research does not describe what the Delaware master HVACR exam covers, so review the Board's examination information and the vendor's candidate materials before you book.

Master licenses renew biennially, and renewal carries proof of any continuing education the Board requires.

The Board's continuing-education rule sets 5 hours per renewal after your first; licensees with dual licenses owe more, and the hours for a first renewal are prorated.

Renewing late costs extra: the late fee is 50% of the renewal fee.

The out-of-state rule our research found is narrow.

On its HVACR licensure page, the Board says Pennsylvania issues no state HVACR license, so if the only current license you hold was issued by a Pennsylvania municipality or other jurisdiction, you must apply by examination.

Beyond that entry, the Board pages we read do not describe license-to-license reciprocity agreements for HVACR.

If you hold a master-level or comparable HVACR license from another state, ask the Board how it will count it before you apply.

The Board's site links to DELPROS for license verification, at delpros.delaware.gov/OH_VerifyLicense.

Our research confirmed the link on the Board's page but did not open the verification page itself, so if a search does not return the record you expect, go through the Board's site at dpr.delaware.gov and contact the Board directly.

Check a license before you go to work for a contractor or hire one — in Delaware the credential that matters is the master license supervising the work.