Maine to Rhode Island: journeyman HVAC technician license reciprocity

Rhode Island has no license titled 'HVAC technician'; the state credential for HVAC work is the refrigeration/air conditioning license issued by the Department of Labor and Training (DLT), which writes and administers the exam itself. The journeyman-level credential is the Refrigeration Journeyperson Class I (RJ1, unlimited refrigeration and air-conditioning work as an employee); the Refrigeration Journeyperson Class II (RJ2) is limited to comfort cooling up to 20 tons, product cooling up to 3 tons or 1 hp freezing. Heating-side work is licensed separately as pipefitting (Pipefitter Journeyperson I/II) and oil burner service (P.J.F. limited journeyperson II), and sheet metal work has its own license. A new Class I applicant completes a 10,000-hour registered apprenticeship with 144 hours of schooling per year (Class II: 4,000 hours and 288 schooling hours) and passes the DLT exam with a score of 70 or better. Rhode Island has no reciprocity agreements and no statute allowing a refrigeration license without examination; instead R.I. Gen. Laws § 28-27-11 and DLT regulation 260-RICR-30-15-2 § 2.14.C provide that an out-of-state journeyperson license admits the applicant to the Rhode Island journeyperson exam, and the DLT application has a dedicated 'Out-of-State License Holders' fee line. Fees are a $75 non-refundable application fee and a $72 two-year license fee (Class II $60) invoiced after passing; licenses renew every two years on the licensee's birthday. EPA Section 608 certification is a separate federal requirement for handling 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.