Maine Fuel Board (Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation, Department of Professional and Financial Regulation) administers HVAC technician licensing in Maine. 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
Maine does not issue anything called an ‘HVAC license,’ and searching for one leads to the wrong place. The state credential a Maine heating technician actually holds is a MAINE FUEL BOARD license, and it comes in two families: the oil and solid fuel side - Master, Journeyman or Apprentice ‘Oil Burner Technician’ and/or ‘Solid Fuel Technician’ (older Maine paperwork and job ads still say ‘oil burner man,’ ‘oil tech’ or ‘burner technician’) - and the gas side, the ‘Propane and Natural Gas Technician’ license with its authorities, plus a ‘Propane and Natural Gas Helper’ license. The board was formed by merging the former Oil and Solid Fuel Board and Propane and Natural Gas Board, whose names still appear in older references. There is no Maine air conditioning, refrigeration, mechanical or HVAC contractor license, and apart from the joint dealer tank-installer license (32 M.R.S. 18140(2)(B)) and the dispensing-station license issued in the owner’s name (18142(1)), every chapter 139 credential belongs to an individual. Two credentials are commonly mistaken for a Maine HVAC license: an electrician’s license from the Electricians’ Examining Board, which is what covers the electrical side of a heat pump or air conditioner (subject to the Fuel Board’s Memoranda of Understanding for heating branch circuits); and EPA Section 608 certification, which is a federal refrigerant-handling credential held by the technician and is neither issued by Maine nor a substitute for a Maine Fuel Board license.
License types & fees
| Type | Experience | Exam | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Master Oil Burner Technician and/or Master Solid Fuel Technician | A master oil burner technician may install, clean, service, alter or repair oil burning equipment; a master solid fuel technician may do the same for solid fuel burning equipment (32 M.R.S. 18132(1)). For the MASTER OIL BURNER license the applicant must demonstrate 4 years of licensed practical experience as an apprentice or journeyman oil burner or solid fuel technician, and evidence that at least 2 of those 4 years were as a LICENSED JOURNEYMAN oil burner or solid fuel technician (32 M.R.S. 18132(2)(A)); board-approved courses that were applied to a journeyman license cannot be applied again toward the master requirements. For the MASTER SOLID FUEL license the Maine Fuel Board publishes a different path: at least 2 years of licensed experience as an Apprentice Solid Fuel Technician. A licensed Master Oil Burner Technician may sit for the Master Solid Fuel examination without acquiring any solid fuel practical experience (Maine Fuel Board, Individual Licenses). An out-of-state applicant must present satisfactory evidence to the board of experience installing, cleaning, servicing, altering and repairing oil or solid fuel burning equipment. The license carries one or more authorities: No. 1 and No. 2 oils up to 15 gallons per hour; No. 1 and No. 2 oils over 15 gallons per hour; No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 oils; No. 1 to No. 6 oils; pellet-fired central heating; and solid fuel (32 M.R.S. 18132(1)(A); Board Rules Ch. 3, 3.1.1). | A board-approved examination with a passing score of 70% (Maine Fuel Board Rules Ch. 4, 4.1.1.2). The applicant must apply for and receive WRITTEN BOARD APPROVAL before sitting; scores earned before board approval are void (Board Rules Ch. 4, 4.1.1.1; Maine Fuel Board Examinations page). Examinations are computer-based at secure test centers in Maine, with remote proctored testing available for candidates with high-speed internet and a computer with camera and microphone. | License fee $200.00 plus a $21.00 criminal background check fee on initial application; biennial renewal fee $200.00. A $50.00 late fee applies for renewal up to 90 days after expiration; a license renewed more than 90 days but not more than 2 years after expiration may be reinstated by paying the $200 license fee plus a $100 penalty fee (Maine Fuel Board, Individual Licenses). |
| Journeyman Oil Burner Technician and/or Journeyman Solid Fuel Technician | A journeyman oil burner technician, under the indirect supervision of, or in the employ of, a master oil burner technician, may install, clean, service, alter or repair oil burning equipment; the supervising or employing master must hold at least the same authority as the journeyman (32 M.R.S. 18133(1)(A)). A journeyman must at all times have a supervising master who has signed a Certificate of Supervision on file with the board, and may not work on oil or solid fuel burning equipment if for any reason they no longer have a supervising master (Board Rules Ch. 3, 3.2.3). Qualification is by ONE of three published paths (32 M.R.S. 18133(2)): (A) one year of licensed practical experience as an apprentice oil burner or solid fuel technician; (B) six months of licensed practical experience as an apprentice PLUS completion of a board-approved oil burner or solid fuel technician course at a community college, career and technical education center or region, or a comparable institute in Maine or another state, consisting of at least 160 hours of study of which at least 75 hours are laboratory work on oil burning equipment and related systems; or (C) successful completion of a minimum one-year accredited heating course at a Maine community college consisting of at least 320 hours of study of which at least 150 hours are laboratory work on oil or solid fuel burning equipment and related systems. An out-of-state applicant must present satisfactory evidence of experience to the board. | A board-approved examination with a passing score of 70% (Board Rules Ch. 4). Board approval to sit for the examination must be obtained first. Documentation includes an affidavit signed by a licensed Master Oil Burner Technician verifying the required licensed hours, or a student certificate, diploma or transcript for the 160-hour or 320-hour course paths (Maine Fuel Board, Individual Licenses). | License fee $100.00 plus a $21.00 criminal background check fee on initial application; biennial renewal fee $100.00. A $50.00 late fee applies for renewal up to 90 days after expiration; renewal more than 90 days but not more than 2 years after expiration may be reinstated by paying the $100 license fee plus a $100 penalty fee (Maine Fuel Board, Individual Licenses). |
| Apprentice Oil Burner Technician and/or Apprentice Solid Fuel Technician | The entry license. An apprentice oil burner technician may assist in making oil installations and repairing and servicing oil burning equipment under the DIRECT supervision of a master or journeyman oil burner technician who holds the same or higher authority; may bleed an oil burner without direct supervision (and must refer the problem to a journeyman or master if the burner fails to operate after bleeding); and may clean oil burning equipment without direct supervision if the apprentice has either successfully completed at least 160 hours of board-approved training or completed at least one year of supervised oil burner work experience (32 M.R.S. 18134(1-A)(A)). The parallel provisions for an apprentice solid fuel technician appear at 18134(1-A)(B). An apprentice must at all times have a supervising master with a Certificate of Supervision on file (Board Rules Ch. 3, 3.3.3), and a journeyman may not have more than two apprentices under direct supervision at any one time (Board Rules Ch. 3, 3.2.6). | No examination is required for the apprentice license; the published requirement is a completed application (Maine Fuel Board, Individual Licenses). | License fee $40.00 plus a $21.00 criminal background check fee on initial application; biennial renewal fee $40.00. A $50.00 late fee applies for renewal after the expiration date, and an application filed more than 90 days after expiration is subject to all requirements governing new applicants (Maine Fuel Board, Individual Licenses). |
| Propane and Natural Gas Technician (the gas-side heating credential, issued with authorities) | A propane and natural gas technician may install, repair or service propane or natural gas equipment and must be authorized in one or more authorities (32 M.R.S. 18135(1)): Appliance connection and service (install and service propane and natural gas appliances up to 500,000 BTUs per appliance); Delivery (deliver propane by liquid transfer into a stationary container on the consumer's property or by placing a portable container there); Large equipment connection and service (appliances over 500,000 BTUs per appliance); Plant operation (work at a propane facility as defined in NFPA 58); and Tank setting and outside piping (set and maintain propane tanks and outside piping). Qualification is by ONE of the paths at 18135(2): (A) successful completion of the certified employee training program of a national propane gas association; or (B) successful completion of a board-approved propane or natural gas course at a Maine community college, career and technical education center or region, or a comparable institute of Maine or another state, and passage of a board-approved examination. For the Large Equipment Connection and Service authority the board's Individual Licenses page publishes two routes: hold a technician license with the Appliance Connection and Service endorsement and pass the large-equipment examination, or 'Present proof to the Board of passage of the Appliance Connection and Service Technician examination' and pass the large-equipment examination. Board rule 4.7.4 states only the first route (with a certified-employee-training element); both official sources are stated because they differ. Adding an authority to an existing license costs $0 but requires passing the examination and completing the certified employee training program for the endorsement sought. | A board-approved examination with a passing score of 70% (Board Rules Ch. 4). The board states that ALL individuals applying for propane and natural gas licensure must first submit an examination application, receive board approval to sit, and pass a Maine Fuel Board propane and gas examination BEFORE applying for the license, under 32 M.R.S. 18135(2). On the transcript that must accompany the CETP certificates, the board's own pages conflict and both are stated here: the board's home page requires 'an Onboard Transcript detailing completion of the requisite modules' before an applicant can be considered for examination, while its Individual Licenses page requires 'an official PERC Transcript' before an applicant can be considered for licensure. Under the current board rules, 'Incomplete or illegible applications will be returned to the applicant together with any attachments' (Board Rules Ch. 4, sec. 4.13, July 2025 filing). | License fee $100.00 plus a $21.00 criminal background check fee on initial application; renewal fee $100.00 for the two-year term. A $50.00 late fee applies for renewal up to 90 days after expiration; renewal more than 90 days but not more than 2 years after expiration may be reinstated by paying the $100 license fee plus a $100 penalty fee. Adding an authority to an existing license: $0 (Maine Fuel Board, Individual Licenses). |
| Propane and Natural Gas Helper | A propane and natural gas helper may assist in making propane and natural gas installations and repairing and servicing propane and natural gas equipment under the DIRECT supervision of a propane and natural gas technician who has the same authority as described under 32 M.R.S. 18135(1) (32 M.R.S. 18136). The board describes the required supervision as direct and continuous, on-site (Maine Fuel Board, Individual Licenses). | No examination is published for the helper license; the requirement is a completed application (Maine Fuel Board, Individual Licenses). | License fee $20.00 plus a $21.00 criminal background check fee on initial application; biennial renewal fee $20.00. A $50.00 late fee applies for renewal after expiration, and an application more than 90 days after expiration is subject to all requirements governing new applicants. |
| Limited licenses (tank installer, wood pellet technician, oil or propane limited energy auditor) and the temporary plant operator / delivery technician permit | LIMITED TANK INSTALLER: restricted to installing outside residential heating oil tanks at manufactured housing; issued to a licensed manufactured housing mechanic, or to the owner of a manufactured housing dealership for tanks at housing the owner sold, or jointly to a licensed manufactured housing dealer and a named employee; requires a board-approved training program of at least 4 hours on proper installation of an outside oil tank (32 M.R.S. 18140). LIMITED WOOD PELLET TECHNICIAN: privileges restricted to cleaning the ash pan, cleaning the burn pot, scraping and cleaning the distribution tubes, emptying fines from the collection box and cleaning the fan (32 M.R.S. 18141). OIL LIMITED ENERGY AUDITOR: restricted to combustion safety and efficiency testing on oil-fired space-heating or water-heating equipment and does NOT include any adjustment of that equipment (32 M.R.S. 18138); PROPANE LIMITED ENERGY AUDITOR: the same for natural gas-fired or propane gas-fired space-heating or water-heating equipment (32 M.R.S. 18139). Both auditor licenses require evidence of completing the Certified Building Analyst 1 certification test and field examination offered by the Building Performance Institute, the equivalent Maine residential energy auditor certification program, or an equivalent training program acceptable to the board. TEMPORARY PLANT OPERATOR OR DELIVERY TECHNICIAN PERMIT: application must be made within 90 days after first performing the functions; the license runs one year, may NOT be renewed, and a new temporary license may not be issued within 3 years following the issuance date of the previous one (32 M.R.S. 18137(2)). | The limited licenses are qualification-and-documentation based rather than examination based: the tank installer submits proof of the 4-hour training program, the energy auditors submit their Building Performance Institute (or equivalent) certification, and the wood pellet technician submits a completed application (32 M.R.S. 18138-18141; Maine Fuel Board, Individual Licenses). | Limited Tank Installer $50.00, Limited Wood Pellet Technician $50.00, Oil Limited Energy Auditor Technician $50.00, and Propane Limited Energy Auditor Technician $50.00 - each plus a $21.00 criminal background check fee on initial application, with the same amount as the biennial renewal fee and a $50.00 late fee after expiration (Maine Fuel Board, Individual Licenses). |
Who does NOT need this license — exemptions
Maine’s licensing requirement is stated at 32 M.R.S. 18102 and applies ’except as provided under section 18104.’ Section 18104 begins: ‘The licensing provisions of this chapter do not apply to:’ and then lists, by subsection - (1) ELECTRICIANS: ‘An electrician duly licensed under chapter 17 insofar as the installation of electrical equipment or the performance of any electrical work involved in the installation of oil or solid fuel or propane or natural gas burners is concerned’; (2) ENGINEERS AND OPERATORS: ‘A person holding an engineer’s license issued under section 15109, or working under the general supervision of one so licensed while performing oil or solid fuel burner repair and maintenance on propane or natural gas burning equipment as is necessary in the steam or heating plant where that person is employed, if that work is performed in compliance with section 18107, or a person employed by companies under the jurisdiction of the Public Utilities Commission’; (3) EQUIPMENT: ‘Solid fuel burning fireplace stoves, room heaters and stoves designed exclusively for heating and cooking and not attached to a central heating system and heating or cooling equipment operated by means of solar energy’; (4) HIGHWAY TRANSPORT DRIVERS: ‘A highway transport driver who drives a tractor-trailer commercial motor vehicle that has a cargo tank with a water capacity of 9,000 gallons or more and delivers propane to a bulk plant, as defined in NFPA standards, Number 58, or industrial customers’; (5) INDIVIDUAL USER OF A SELF-SERVICE PROPANE OR NATURAL GAS DISPENSING STATION: ‘An individual user of a self-service propane or natural gas dispensing station’; (6) MECHANICS - the subsection that most often decides who may work alongside a fuel technician on an HVAC job: ‘The installation of air-handling equipment, sheet metal and other specialized equipment and services associated with oil or solid fuel or propane or natural gas burning equipment made by qualified mechanics of those trades who do not hold a master oil and solid fuel burning technician’s license under section 18132, journeyman oil and solid fuel burning technician’s license under section 18133, apprentice oil and solid fuel burning technician’s license under section 18134 or propane and natural gas technician’s license under section 18135. Such an installation must conform to the standards and rules of the board and must be made under the supervision of a master oil and solid fuel burning technician or propane and natural gas technician having responsibility for the installation’ - note that the exemption ends in a supervision condition, so ductwork and sheet metal crews are not simply free of the chapter; (7) PERSONAL ABODE: ‘A person making an oil, solid fuel, propane or natural gas burning installation in a single family residence occupied or to be occupied by that person as that person’s bona fide personal abode, provided that the installation conforms with standards and rules of the board’; (8) PERSONS WORKING ON INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES AND ASSOCIATED GAS TRAINS: ‘A person who works on internal combustion engines and associated gas trains’; (9) PLUMBERS: ‘A plumber duly licensed under chapter 49 insofar as the work covered by that chapter is involved’; and (10) REGULAR EMPLOYEES OF INDUSTRIAL FACILITIES: ‘Regular employees of industrial plants installing and servicing oil, solid fuel, propane or natural gas burning equipment of greater than 10,000,000 BTUs per hour input.’ Two further carve-outs sit outside section 18104. First, 32 M.R.S. 18134-A: ‘Notwithstanding section 18102, a home heating oil delivery driver may bleed a residential home heating oil burner without direct supervision if the delivery driver has documentation of having completed a board-approved training course in bleeding oil burners. If the oil burner fails to operate after bleeding, the delivery driver shall refer the problem to a journeyman oil and solid fuel burning technician or master oil and solid fuel burning technician’ - again, the permission runs only to bleeding and ends in a referral duty. Second, inside the license structure rather than as an exemption, an apprentice may clean oil or solid fuel burning equipment without direct supervision if the apprentice has either completed at least 160 hours of board-approved training or completed at least one year of supervised work experience (32 M.R.S. 18134(1-A)). Finally, note what is NOT exempted: work on cooling-only equipment is outside chapter 139 altogether rather than exempted from it, and the electrical portion of any installation remains subject to the Electricians’ chapter (32 M.R.S. ch. 17) except as the Maine Fuel Board’s Memoranda of Understanding with the Electricians’ Examining Board permit.
Fees
Maine Fuel Board fees, per the board’s Individual Licenses page (verified July 25, 2026). Initial license fee and biennial renewal fee are the same amount for each credential: Master Oil Burner and/or Solid Fuel Technician $200.00; Journeyman Oil Burner and/or Solid Fuel Technician $100.00; Apprentice Oil Burner and/or Solid Fuel Technician $40.00; Propane and Natural Gas Technician $100.00; Propane and Natural Gas Helper $20.00; Limited Tank Installer $50.00; Limited Wood Pellet Technician $50.00; Oil Limited Energy Auditor Technician $50.00; Propane Limited Energy Auditor Technician $50.00. A $21.00 criminal background check fee is charged on initial application for each of these credentials. Adding an authority (endorsement) to an existing Propane and Natural Gas Technician license: $0. LATE AND REINSTATEMENT: a $50.00 late fee is assessed for renewal after the expiration date. For the master oil burner/solid fuel, journeyman oil burner/solid fuel and propane and natural gas technician licenses, an application filed more than 90 days but not more than 2 years after expiration may be reinstated by paying the license fee plus a $100 penalty fee, and more than 2 years after expiration the applicant is subject to all requirements governing new applicants. For the apprentice, helper and limited licenses the board publishes the shorter rule: an application filed more than 90 days after expiration is subject to all requirements governing new applicants. The statute is the outer bound on all of these: fees are set by rule by the Director of the Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation, ’except that the fee for any one purpose may not exceed $350 biennially’ (32 M.R.S. 18143), and 32 M.R.S. 18144 provides for reissue up to 90 days after expiration on payment of a late fee, with applications beyond 90 days subject to new-applicant requirements ’except that the board may, in its discretion and giving due consideration to the protection of the public, waive examination if that renewal application is made within 2 years from the date of that expiration’ - which is the statutory basis for the board’s published 2-year reinstatement path. Separate permit fees apply to dispensing stations and to aboveground/underground propane and natural gas storage facility and rooftop ASME container permits (32 M.R.S. 18109, 18142). Fee amounts are set in the rules of the Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation (Chapters 10, 11 and 13) and can change; confirm the current amount on the board’s licensing page before applying.
Exam
Maine Fuel Board licenses that require an examination (master and journeyman oil burner and/or solid fuel technician, and propane and natural gas technician) use a board-approved examination with a passing score of 70% (Maine Fuel Board Rules Ch. 4, e.g. 4.1.1.2). The sequence is fixed: submit an examination application with all required documentation, receive WRITTEN BOARD APPROVAL to sit, then schedule and take the examination - the board states that scores earned by applicants who test before receiving board approval are null and void. Examinations are computer-based and offered at several secure test centers in Maine; remote proctored testing is available for candidates with high-speed internet and a computer with camera and microphone that can run the required testing software. The board publishes a candidate information bulletin from its examination vendor, ProV. For propane and natural gas licensure the board applies this to every applicant: all individuals must submit an examination application, receive board approval, and pass a Maine Fuel Board propane and gas examination before applying for a license, under 32 M.R.S. 18135(2); an application cannot be considered without a complete package including all CETP certificates and a training transcript - the board’s home page calls for ‘an Onboard Transcript’, its Individual Licenses page for ‘an official PERC Transcript’; both official pages are stated because they conflict - and incomplete or illegible applications are returned to the applicant with their attachments (Board Rules Ch. 4, sec. 4.13, July 2025 filing). Adding an authority (endorsement) to an existing propane and natural gas technician license also requires passing the applicable examination plus completing the certified employee training program for that endorsement, and the board asks licensees to email the board with the existing license number and the endorsement sought because there is no separate online application for adding an endorsement. Apprentice, helper and the limited licenses (tank installer, wood pellet technician, oil and propane limited energy auditor) are qualification-and-documentation based rather than examination based.
Renewal & continuing education
Two years, running from the licensee’s first licensure date rather than a common statewide expiration date - the board states the term for every individual license as ‘Two years based on first licensure date’ (Maine Fuel Board, Individual Licenses). By statute, a license expires on the date set by the Commissioner of Professional and Financial Regulation under 10 M.R.S. 8003(4) for the licensing period for which it was issued, and a renewal license may be issued for each ensuing licensing period, in the absence of any reason that would warrant refusal, on the board’s receipt of the licensee’s written request and the fee (32 M.R.S. 18144). An expired license may be reissued up to 90 days after expiration on payment of a late fee in addition to the renewal fee. An individual who applies more than 90 days after expiration is subject to all requirements governing new applicants and to a renewal fee, late fee and additional late fee, ’except that the board may, in its discretion and giving due consideration to the protection of the public, waive examination if that renewal application is made within 2 years from the date of that expiration’ (18144) - the board implements that discretion as a reinstatement path (license fee plus $100 penalty) for the master, journeyman and propane and natural gas technician licenses. The board also notes that licenses and other communications are sent by email, so licensees must keep contact information current. Renewal is filed through the board’s online licensing system, and the board cautions that online submission is not automatic renewal - the department must first verify that all conditions for renewal are met. A temporary plant operator or delivery technician license is the exception to all of this: it costs a $20.00 license fee plus the $21.00 criminal background check fee, runs one year, MAY NOT be renewed, and a new one may not be issued within 3 years of the previous one (32 M.R.S. 18137(2); Maine Fuel Board, Individual Licenses). None. Maine imposes no continuing education requirement on any Maine Fuel Board license. The renewal statute conditions a renewal license only on the absence of a disqualifying reason, the licensee’s written request, and the fee (32 M.R.S. 18144) - it sets no education condition - and no continuing education requirement appears anywhere in the board’s rules, from the definitions chapter through the chapters on categories and responsibilities of licensure, qualifications for examination and licensure, and the installation and equipment standards. The board does offer free code update training and publishes code update materials, but attendance is not a licensing condition. Two training obligations that are sometimes mistaken for continuing education are narrower: the on-site limited operator of a propane or natural gas DISPENSING STATION must be trained, must train and document training for other dispensing station employees, and the gas supplier ‘must provide refresher training to the limited operator prior to each license renewal,’ with a copy of the training record submitted at the time of license renewal (Board Rules Ch. 4; 32 M.R.S. 18142(2)(B)); and a propane and natural gas technician adding a new authority must complete the certified employee training program for that endorsement and pass its examination.
How to apply
Applications are handled by Maine Fuel Board (Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation, Department of Professional and Financial Regulation). Start at the official application page .