Alabama HVAC Continuing Education

While most of the country might know the work you do by the acronym HVAC, the state of Alabama expands your capabilities slightly by referring to their HVAC licensees as heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HACR) contractors. 

Whatever you call it, though, you can’t work on heating and cooling systems if you don’t maintain your license with the HACR Board. Here’s what you need to know to renew your HVAC license with the Alabama HACR Board each year, including continuing education (CE) requirement. 

Continuing education requirements for AL HVAC contractors

Chapter 440-X-4 of the state administrative code outlines the CE requirements for HVAC contractors to maintain their licensing with the state. Specifically, as of 2010, all HACR contractors need four hours of continuing education each year. 

And although your license renewal is due at the end of the year, you can’t wait until then to finish your CE. State code mandates that you need to complete your CE by November 1 each year. This gives the Board time to check that all contractors have the hours they need before they start issuing license renewals. 

Good news for you: you can complete your hours online and your education provider can report your completion to the state for you. At that point, you just need to hold onto your certificate of completion, which you get when you finish your hours, in case the Board ever asks for it. 

Eligible CE hours

You need to check for two main things to ensure that any hours you complete will count toward your HACR license. First, make sure any hours you take come from an education provider that has been approved by the Board. To see an example, you can scroll down the bottom of this page and look over our approval letters from the state. 

Secondly, you need to make sure your hours teach you applicable subject matter. So to renew an HVAC license, you should take Board-approved hours about heating and air conditioning or other relevant topics like the Uniform Mechanical Code (UMC). 

Carrying over extra hours

You need at least four hours each year, but you might decide to take some extra ones to make things easier on yourself next year. You can take up to eight hours in any single year and carry the four extra hours over to the next renewal cycle.

The main thing to watch here is that you need to have your hours reported in the year that you take them. 

Completing your renewal application

If you choose to take your CE hours online, you can knock them out from your home, office, or any other location that works for you. And you can chip away at the hours whenever you have time in your schedule. Just remember to get them all done by Halloween. 

From there, you can complete your renewal application online or, if you’d prefer, you can print off and mail in the manual renewal form. If you choose the latter, make sure you include the required $190 renewal fee or write in your credit card information. Either way, don’t forget to submit everything to the HACR Board by December 31 each year.