Maine to North Carolina: journeyman HVAC technician license reciprocity

North Carolina has no license called 'journeyman HVAC'. The closest state-issued, person-held credential below contractor level is the Heating Technician license from the State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinkler Contractors: an individual who has passed the 4-hour technical examination for Heating Group 1 (hydronic), Group 2 (forced air over 15 tons) or Group 3 (forced air 15 tons or less), Class I (any building) or Class II (single-family dwellings), but not the business and law examination. A technician license is not a contracting license and is not required to work for a living: any W-2 employee of a licensed heating contractor may perform work under the contractor's license, so the technician license mainly lets its holder be listed as a sub-licensee to help supervise work, or qualify a state, local-government or private-school maintenance department. Eligibility is 3,000 hours of hands-on installation, maintenance, service or repair experience (up to half from technical education), a $150 exam fee, a nationwide criminal background report and Social Security verification. The Board publishes no reciprocity for any state at this level; an out-of-state journeyman documents their hours on the Board's employment-history form and takes the technical exam. Refrigeration (commercial, industrial, transport and service, but not comfort cooling) is licensed separately by the State Board of Refrigeration Contractors, which licenses only contractors and has no technician-level credential. EPA Section 608 certification is required federally to handle refrigerants.

Maine does not issue a journeyman HVAC, air conditioning or refrigeration license, and no Maine city or town was found to do so either; the Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation's list of licensed professions contains no HVAC or mechanical trade. What Maine does license is the fuel side of heating: the Maine Fuel Board issues Journeyman Oil Burner and/or Solid Fuel Technician licenses ($100 plus a $21 background check, exam required, after one year as a licensed apprentice or 160 hours of approved coursework plus six months of apprenticeship) and Propane and Natural Gas Technician licenses ($100 plus $21, board-approved training plus a Fuel Board exam), and anyone who installs or services oil, propane, natural gas or solid-fuel burning equipment must hold one. Ductwork, air conditioning, refrigeration and the mechanical parts of a heat pump need no state license; the electrical connection of a heat pump must be made by a licensed electrician (or, for mini-splits of 36,000 BTU or less in one- and two-family dwellings, by a licensed oil burner technician under a 2013 memorandum of understanding), and the installer needs federal EPA Section 608 refrigerant certification if the system is not factory charged. An out-of-state journeyman HVAC license therefore has nothing to transfer to; the technician may work for any employer without a Maine credential, but must obtain the relevant Fuel Board license before touching a furnace, boiler or gas appliance, and Fuel Board rules give out-of-state applicants no exam waiver, only credit for documented employment as a technician (a statutory endorsement process under 10 M.R.S. s. 8003-H exists but the board has not published a procedure). EPA Section 608 certification is federal and required everywhere for refrigerant handling.