Requirements, license levels, and the issuing authority, sourced from Rhode Island's official board.
Rhode Island licenses HVAC as individual mechanical trades rather than as one HVAC license: comfort cooling and refrigeration fall under the Refrigeration classes, hydronic and heating piping under the Pipefitter classes, ductwork under Sheet Metal, and gas and oil burner service under separate limited PJF classes. The practical scope triggers are the Class II limits, 20 tons of comfort cooling and 500,000 BTU of heating. A contractor doing residential or commercial construction must also register with the Contractors' Registration and Licensing Board, a separate body. Refrigerant work requires federal EPA Section 608 certification.
| Requirements | Refrigeration Journeyperson Class I, unlimited: 10,000 hours of on-the-job training with at least 144 hours of trade-related schooling per year. Refrigeration Journeyperson Class II, limited to comfort cooling up to 20 tons and product cooling up to 3 tons or 1 horsepower freezing: 4,000 hours of on-the-job training with at least 288 hours of schooling. Refrigeration Master Class I: 1 year as a Refrigeration Journeyperson I or as a Refrigeration Master II; Class II: 3 years as a Refrigeration Journeyperson II. Pipefitter Journeyperson Class I: 10,000 hours plus 144 schooling hours per year; Class II, limited to heating installations with no process piping and commercial and residential heating capped at 500,000 BTU: 4,000 hours plus 288 schooling hours. Sheet Metal Journeyperson Class I: 8,000 hours plus 144 hours per year; Class II, residential only: 4,000 hours plus 288 hours. Apprentices must be at least 18 and work under direct supervision. Application requires government-issued ID, a notarized application, a $75 non-refundable processing fee and a notarized employer statement of experience; a passing score is 70 or better. |
| Reciprocity | The official application requires an out-of-state applicant to submit a valid copy of their out-of-state mechanical trade license and an official license verification from that state, and requires Massachusetts pipefitter applicants to submit their Massachusetts plumbers and/or gasfitters license. Out-of-state applicants may also submit notarized resumes showing equivalent experience. This is examination eligibility rather than license-for-license reciprocity; no waiver of examination is stated. |
| Renewal | The Department's fee schedule states a 2-year license fee for every mechanical class, for example $240 Refrigeration Master 1, $96 Refrigeration Master 2, $72 Refrigeration Journeyperson I and $60 Refrigeration Journeyperson II. No continuing education requirement for the mechanical trades was found in the regulation or Department notices reviewed; the 7-hour biennial continuing education program the Department has announced applies by its own terms to licensed master and journeyman plumbers under R.I. Gen. Laws section 5-20-23(f), not to refrigeration or pipefitting. |
| Notes | Rhode Island licenses HVAC as individual mechanical trades rather than as one HVAC license: comfort cooling and refrigeration fall under the Refrigeration classes, hydronic and heating piping under the Pipefitter classes, ductwork under Sheet Metal, and gas and oil burner service under separate limited PJF classes. The practical scope triggers are the Class II limits, 20 tons of comfort cooling and 500,000 BTU of heating. A contractor doing residential or commercial construction must also register with the Contractors' Registration and Licensing Board, a separate body. Refrigerant work requires federal EPA Section 608 certification. |
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Sources: dlt.ri.gov, rules.sos.ri.gov. Always confirm current requirements with the issuing authority.
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