Delaware Board of Plumbing, Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Examiners (Delaware Division of Professional Regulation) administers HVAC technician licensing in Delaware. Every figure below is verified against the board’s own official pages and dated. Who must personally hold a credential — the contractor, the business, or the individual worker — is set out under Requirements.
What it’s called
Delaware calls its HVAC credential a ‘Master HVACR’ license or a ‘Master HVACR Restricted’ license, and the R stands for refrigeration - the same license covers heating, ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration, commercial hood systems, hydronic systems, and gas piping. The naming varies even across the state’s own pages: the Delaware Code defines ‘Master HVACR licensee’ and ‘Master HVACR licensee restricted’ (24 Del. C. 1802(11)-(12)), the licensing section 1820 says ‘master HVACR restricted licensee,’ and the Division of Professional Regulation’s fee schedule lists ‘Master Restricted HVACR’ - all the same two credentials. Searches for a ‘Delaware HVAC license,’ ‘HVACR license,’ ‘AC license,’ ‘refrigeration license,’ or ‘gas piping license’ land here, and the restricted license is how a gas-piping-only or refrigeration-only specialist is credentialed. The issuing body is the Board of Plumbing, Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Examiners, often shortened to the plumbing board because it licenses master plumbers under the same chapter; applications, renewals, and continuing-education entries are all handled in DELPROS, the Division’s online licensing system. Two things it is NOT: Delaware issues no HVACR journeyperson or apprentice license - people at those levels work under a master’s supervision by statutory exemption, so there is no lower-tier Delaware card to search for - and EPA Section 608 certification is a FEDERAL refrigerant-handling credential, not the Delaware license, although Delaware requires an applicant to already hold it. Separately, the business license that the Delaware Division of Revenue issues to a contractor is a tax registration, not an HVACR competency credential.
License types & fees
| Type | Experience | Exam | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Master HVACR licensee (the full, unrestricted individual license) | Two paths, both requiring supervised experience under a master. Path one: hold 'a journeyman's certificate issued in any state following completion of an HVACR, or HVACR restricted apprenticeship program that meets or exceeds the Federal Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training Standards and, thereafter, [perform] HVACR, or HVACR restricted services for 2 years under the supervision of a master HVACR licensee, or master HVACR restricted licensee, or an individual holding a similar level of licensure in another state' (24 Del. C. 1821(a)(1)). The Board's rule adds that 'Experience gained before receipt of the Journeyman's Certificate does not qualify and will not be counted toward fulfillment of the 2-year requirement' (24 DE Admin. Code 1800, 3.1.2.1). Path two: perform HVACR services 'for 7 years under the supervision of a master HVACR licensee or master HVACR restricted licensee or an individual holding a similar level of licensure in another state and, thereafter, successfully complete[] the apprenticeship equivalency test' (1821(a)(1); rule 3.1.2.2). Experience is documented by affidavit of the applicant's supervisor on the Board's Verification of Employment form; where that cannot be obtained, a W-2 or an affidavit of the employer or an officer of the employing company may be accepted at the Board's discretion, and self-employment may be proven with a federal Schedule C. Applicants must also hold certification 'at the appropriate level for handling chlorofluorocarbons (CFC's) by a testing organization approved by the Environmental Protection Agency' (1821(a)(3)), provide certificates of good standing from every jurisdiction that has ever licensed them, and attest to a clean disciplinary, impairment, and criminal record (1821(a)(4)-(8); rule 3.1.4-3.1.5). A 'Master HVACR can design, install, construct, maintain, service, repair, alter, or modify a product or equipment including gas piping in heating and air conditioning, refrigeration, ventilation, or process cooling or heating systems' (Division of Professional Regulation, HVACR Licensure page; 24 Del. C. 1802(8), (11)). | Required. The applicant must pass the Board-approved, Division-approved written standardized HVACR examination with a score of 70% or greater (24 Del. C. 1821(a)(2), 1822; 24 DE Admin. Code 1800, 3.1.1; the Division's Examinations page: 'You must obtain a minimum score of 70% to pass the exam'). The examination must be offered at least quarterly by statute (1822(a)) and is offered four times per year under the rule (3.1.1). Board approval to sit is required first. Applicants on the seven-year path must additionally pass the apprenticeship equivalency examination (the 'Bypass Exams') before they will be approved for the HVACR examination, and an applicant for a restricted license 'must present a passing score on those sections of the Bypass Exams that the Board designates as applicable to the category of restriction' (rule 3.1.2.2.2-3.1.2.2.3). A candidate who does not pass may retake at the next two regularly scheduled administrations without further Board approval; after three unsuccessful attempts the applicant must reapply and may not do so until a year has run: 'An applicant who does not pass the exam after these 3 attempts may reapply for licensure but not until 1 year after the date of the third exam' (rule 3.1.6; authorized by 1822(b), which itself sets no period). | $173 application fee, paid in the Division's online licensing system (Division of Professional Regulation Fee Schedule for this Board, verified July 25, 2026). All processing fees are non-refundable, and the application fee may not be combined with any other fee (24 Del. C. 1824). Renewal fees are set each licensure biennium by the Division and are not published in advance - 'You are notified of the amount of the renewal fee at the time of renewal' - with a late fee equal to 50% of the renewal fee for a renewal filed after the expiration date. Related published charges: $50 Commercial Hood System Examination; $45 to change to inactive status; $35 verification of licensure ($45 with exam scores, hours, or history). Costs paid outside the Division: the examination fees charged by the testing vendors, and, for a contracting business, the Delaware business license from the Division of Revenue. |
| Master HVACR Restricted licensee (one specialty only) | Same statutory qualifications, experience paths, examination requirement, and character and record requirements as the unrestricted master license (24 Del. C. 1821, which treats 'master HVACR licensee, or master HVACR restricted licensee' identically throughout). The difference is scope. A 'Master HVACR licensee restricted' is 'an individual holding a current license pursuant to this chapter to provide services pursuant to this chapter in 1 of the following areas: a. Heating - forced air systems; ventilation; and gas piping; or b. Heating - hydronic systems and gas piping; or c. Commercial hood systems; or d. Refrigeration; or e. Air-conditioning; or f. Gas piping' (1802(12); the same list defines 'HVACR restricted services' at 1802(7)). The Division states the practical consequence: 'If you wish to provide services in more than one of these specialties, you must apply for a Master HVACR license. If you already hold a current Delaware Master HVACR Restricted license, you must apply to upgrade to an unrestricted license.' A CFC certification card is required of applicants for Master HVACR, Master HVACR Restricted-Refrigeration, and Master HVACR Restricted-Air Conditioning (Division HVACR Licensure page). | Required, at 70% or greater, on the Board-approved examination for the category sought. An applicant using the seven-year experience path must first pass the sections of the apprenticeship equivalency ('Bypass') examinations that the Board designates as applicable to the category of restriction (24 DE Admin. Code 1800, 3.1.2.2.3). The retake sequence is the same: two further attempts without new Board approval, then reapplication no sooner than one year after the third attempt. | $173 application fee, listed on the Division's Fee Schedule for this Board as 'Master Restricted HVACR' (verified July 25, 2026). The $50 Commercial Hood System Examination fee on the same schedule is the charge tied to that specialty's examination. Renewal fees are set by the Division each biennium and disclosed at renewal; a late renewal adds 50% of the renewal fee. |
| Temporary HVACR license (100 days, only when a business loses its sole license holder) | This is not an entry route for a new technician - it exists so a firm that suddenly loses its only licensee can keep operating. If a partnership, firm, corporation, or other artificial entity providing regulated services 'suffers the loss of its sole license holder, the entity shall notify the Board in writing with supporting documentation within 7 days,' and the Board must schedule an emergency meeting within 10 days; between the loss and that meeting the entity may continue to operate without a license holder provided it keeps the same personnel apart from the license holder (24 Del. C. 1831(a)-(b)). An owner or employee who wants to continue the services must submit a licensure application before that meeting, and the Board may issue a temporary license valid for 100 days dated from the notification (1831(c)). The Division frames eligibility as two yes-or-no questions: has the firm lost its sole license holder, and are you an owner or employee who wishes to temporarily continue providing the services. | The temporary licensee 'must take the next available examination' (24 Del. C. 1831(d)). The temporary license 'expires immediately upon an applicant's failure to take the next available examination; or, if the applicant takes the examination, upon the Board's receipt of notification that the applicant failed the examination' (1831(e)). If the 100 days run out and the entity still has no license holder in its employ, the entity 'must cease and desist immediately from providing plumbing services for which a license is required under this chapter' (1831(f)). | $40 application fee, listed as 'Plumber or HVACR Temporary' on the Division's Fee Schedule for this Board (verified July 25, 2026). |
Who does NOT need this license — exemptions
Delaware licenses HVACR only at the master level, and 24 Del. C. 1820(c) is the chapter’s exemption provision for HVACR work. It opens ‘An individual may provide HVACR or HVACR restricted services without being licensed under this chapter if:’ and then provides, quoted in full: (1) ‘The individual is an apprentice, journeyman, mechanic or other person providing such services under the supervision of a master HVACR licensee or master HVACR restricted licensee, who is the individual’s employer or who is employed full time by the same business entity as the individual’; (2) ‘The individual is a homeowner who is performing HVACR services other than gas piping in or about that individual’s own home that is not for sale or any part for rent or lease’; (3) ‘The individual is providing such services on property used exclusively for agricultural purposes and the individual has filed an application for a permit with the authorized inspection authority’; (4) ‘The individual is providing such services pursuant to the provisions in § 1831 of this title.’
Each of those clauses carries its own limitation, and the limitations are where people go wrong. The homeowner exemption at (2) does NOT cover gas piping - that phrase sits inside the clause - and it fails if the home is for sale or if any part of it is rented or leased, so a landlord working on a rental unit is not exempt. The agricultural exemption at (3) requires the property to be used EXCLUSIVELY for agricultural purposes and requires that a permit application actually have been filed with the authorized inspection authority. The worker exemption at (1) depends entirely on the statutory definition of ‘supervision’ at 1802(18): ‘control and oversight by a master licensee who is an owner or full-time employee of the entity providing services. A supervising master licensee is responsible and accountable for the work performed under the supervising master licensee’s license.’ The Board’s rule defines the ‘Full-Time Employee’ inside that definition as ‘any employee working a minimum of 30 hours per week, averaged over a period of 1 year, who regularly receives compensation from the entity providing services and receives a W-2 form annually from the entity providing services’ (24 DE Admin. Code 1800, 1.2). A technician whose company has no master licensee as owner or full-time employee is not covered by clause (1). Clause (4) points to 1831, the 100-day temporary license issued when a firm loses its sole license holder - and that temporary license ’expires immediately upon an applicant’s failure to take the next available examination’ or on the Board’s receipt of notice that the applicant failed it (1831(e)).
Three definitions in 1802 do work an exemption list would otherwise do, by putting activity outside the chapter altogether. ‘Gas piping’ means an arrangement of piping used to convey fuel gas, and the definition adds: ‘Gas piping does not include the installation of gas appliances where existing service connections are already installed, nor does the term include the installations, alterations, or maintenance of gas utilities owned by a public utility’ (1802(5)). A ‘Ventilation system’ is ’the natural or mechanical process of supplying air to, or removing air from, any space, whether the air is conditioned or not conditioned and at a rate of airflow of more than 250 cubic feet per minute’ (1802(19)) - below that airflow it is not a regulated ventilation system. A ‘Refrigeration system’ means ‘a system used to cool a surface or area below 55 degrees Fahrenheit or 12.9 degrees Celsius’ (1802(16)).
Walking the whole chapter’s table of contents (1801 through 1832), the only other provisions that limit the chapter’s reach are 1807, which is the parallel license-required-and-exemptions section for PLUMBING and does not govern HVACR work, and 1832: ‘Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to limit the ability of any county, municipality, or other governmental entity to adopt and enforce plumbing, HVACR, or fuel gas codes and regulations that are not in conflict with this chapter.’ That last one runs the other way - it preserves local requirements ON TOP of the state license rather than excusing anyone from it, and 1806(d) affirmatively requires every political subdivision to enforce the International Mechanical Code and International Fuel Gas Code as adopted or modified by the Board. There is no small-dollar, handyman, industrial-plant, or maintenance-employee exemption in Delaware’s HVACR chapter, and there is no exemption for a person whose license has lapsed: acting on an expired, suspended, or revoked license is expressly unlawful (1820(b)) and carries the fines in 1820(d).
Fees
Application fees published on the Division of Professional Regulation’s Fee Schedule for this Board (verified July 25, 2026): Master HVACR $173; Master Restricted HVACR $173; Plumber or HVACR Temporary $40. Miscellaneous published charges on the same schedule: Commercial Hood System Examination $50; inactive license status change request $45; request for roster $45; verification of licensure $35, or $45 with exam scores, hours, or history; continuing-education course approval as a provider $45. All fees are paid in the Division’s online licensing system by credit or debit card - the Division does not accept cash, checks, or money orders by mail - and ‘All processing fees are non-refundable.’ RENEWAL FEES ARE NOT PUBLISHED IN ADVANCE: the Division states ‘You are notified of the amount of the renewal fee at the time of renewal,’ and ‘When you submit a renewal application after the expiration date, you must pay a late fee in addition to the renewal fee. The late fee is 50% of the renewal fee.’ That is by statutory design - ‘At the beginning of each licensure biennium, the Division, or another State agency acting in its behalf, shall compute the fees for each separate service or activity for the licensure biennium,’ and each fee ‘must approximate and reasonably reflect the costs necessary to defray the expenses of the Board, as well as the proportional expenses incurred by the Division’ (24 Del. C. 1824). The same section provides that ‘The application fee may not be combined with any other fee.’ Costs outside the Division’s schedule that an applicant should still budget for: the examination fees charged directly by ProV Exam and, where required, Associated Builders and Contractors Delaware; EPA Section 608 (CFC) certification, which Delaware requires you to already hold; and, for a contracting business, the Delaware business license issued by the Division of Revenue.
Exam
Delaware requires every HVACR applicant who is not licensed by reciprocity to pass a written, standardized examination designated by the Board and approved by the Division, with a passing score of 70% or greater (24 Del. C. 1821(a)(2), 1806(a)(4); 24 DE Admin. Code 1800, 3.1.1; the Division’s Examinations page states plainly, ‘You must obtain a minimum score of 70% to pass the exam’). The examination ‘must be offered at least quarterly’ by statute (1822(a)) and is offered four times per year under the rule. Board approval to sit comes first: the applicant files the licensure application, and when the Board approves it the Board office sends a candidate information packet. The Division uses two outside testing vendors - ProV Exam for the licensure examinations for the plumbing and HVACR trades, and Associated Builders and Contractors Delaware for the apprenticeship ‘By-Pass’ examination where the Board requires it. ProV testing is offered in person at four Delaware locations in Wilmington, Newark, and Dover, by appointment, and also through an online at-home testing service Monday through Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm; ProV sends the approved candidate its own Candidate Information Bulletin covering scheduling, permitted testing materials, testing criteria, the exam challenge and hand-score process, and practice examinations. An applicant using the seven-year experience path must clear the apprenticeship equivalency examination first, and an applicant for a restricted license must pass the sections of it the Board designates as applicable to that category of restriction (rule 3.1.2.2.2-3.1.2.2.3). On who administers the equivalency examination the official sources differ: the statute says it is ‘administered by a Delaware vocational-technical school’ (1821(a)(1)), while the Board’s current pages route candidates to Associated Builders and Contractors Delaware in New Castle County at (302) 328-1111, with NCCER catalog materials and a study guide supplied on approval. A candidate who does not pass may retake at the next two regularly scheduled administrations without further Board approval; after three unsuccessful attempts the applicant must reapply for Board permission and may not do so until one year has passed from the date of the last attempt (1822(b); rule 3.1.6). Allow up to two weeks after passing for the Board office to receive the official score; the license issues once the score is received and all other requirements are validated. A separate $50 Commercial Hood System Examination fee appears on the Board’s fee schedule for that specialty.
Renewal & continuing education
Biennial. ‘A license is renewable biennially in a manner determined by the Division, upon payment of the appropriate fee, submission of a renewal form provided by the Division, and proof that the licensee has met any continuing education requirements established by the Board’ (24 Del. C. 1825(b)). The Division sets the date: plumbing and HVACR licenses expire on October 31 of even-numbered years, so the licensure period runs November 1 of an even year to October 31 of the next even year. Renewal notices go out by email a few months ahead - all notices about the license are sent by email only, so the address on record must be current - and renewal is completed online, including the electronic attestation of continuing education. A late renewal may be filed for up to one year after expiration with a late fee equal to 50% of the renewal fee, but that window is not permission to work: the Division states ‘It is illegal to practice in Delaware while your license is expired,’ ‘it is illegal to practice until the license is actually renewed,’ and ‘The late period is not a “grace period.”’ The statute caps that window - the Board’s rules may set the late-renewal period but it ‘may not exceed 1 year beyond the designated renewal date’ (1825(c)). Failing to renew within the year terminates the license and the person must reapply as a new applicant. Inactive status may be requested (before the late renewal period ends on October 31 of an odd year) for no more than five years, during which the licensee may not practice; reactivation requires an application approved by the Board, the reactivation fee, and proof of any continuing education (1825(d)). Every licensee who renews late is audited for continuing-education compliance (24 DE Admin. Code 1800, 5.6.2). 5 hours of Board-approved continuing education per renewal period for an HVACR licensee, broken down by rule as 3 hours in Code changes, 1 hour in safety, and 1 hour in Energy Code (24 DE Admin. Code 1800, 5.3, 5.3.1, 5.3.3). A person holding both a plumbing and an HVACR license completes 6 total hours and must alternate the code topic of the 3-hour code requirement between plumbing and HVACR every other renewal period (5.3.4). First-renewal relief is prorated by how long you have been licensed: a person licensed less than 1 year owes no continuing education at the first renewal, and a person licensed 1 year but less than 2 years submits 3 hours at the first renewal (5.3.5); the Division states the same rule as a date table - licensed on or after November 1 of an even year but before November 1 of the odd year, 3 hours; on or after November 1 of an odd year but before July 1 of the even year, 0 hours; on or after July 1 of an even year to November 1 of that even year, 5 hours. Continuing education ‘is required of all licensees and shall be completed by October 31 of even-numbered years starting in 2026,’ extra hours do not carry over to the next licensing period, and a licensee gets credit only for the first attendance of a given course during a licensing period (5.1). Courses must be approved by the Board and appear on the Division’s approved-course list; sponsors or licensees can seek approval at any time by submitting a course outline with classroom hours and content breakdown, the instructor’s curriculum vitae or resume, and the fee (5.2). Hours are entered in the Division’s online continuing-education tracker. The Board may consider a waiver or partial fulfillment on a written hardship request made before the renewal deadline (5.4). Note that EPA Section 608 refrigerant certification, which Delaware requires an applicant to hold, is a separate federal credential and is not continuing education.
How to apply
Applications are handled by Delaware Board of Plumbing, Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Examiners (Delaware Division of Professional Regulation). Start at the official application page .