Free practice questions for the North Carolina heating contractor exam — Heating Group 3, 2 and 1 plus the Business & Law part — given for the NC State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinkler Contractors, with a written explanation on every answer, in English, Spanish, and Russian.
8 questions, about 4 minutes. No account needed — pick an answer to see whether it's right and read the explanation, the same explanations you get on every question in the full course.
Practice across the full question bank.
Understand why the correct answer works — not just which letter is right.
Spend more time on the questions you miss.
Practice under exam-style time pressure before exam day.
Every question tells you why the correct answer is correct and defines the terms it uses — so you learn the rule, not just the answer.
Questions are written from scratch against the official codes and agency publications for this exam — never copied from the real exam.
Every question and explanation is fully translated, with the English exam term kept alongside — not a shallow machine translation.
LICENA is a practice tool, not a school. We don't promise a pass — we help you understand the material and walk in prepared.
The full course is 500 questions in 5 blocks — Block 1 is the Business & Law part, Blocks 2–4 the H3 technical part, and Block 5 adds hydronic and commercial work for H1 and H2 — written from open sources: the 2018 NC Mechanical, Fuel Gas, Energy Conservation and Residential codes (each code item checked against the 2024 edition), G.S. 87 Article 2 and the board's rules in 21 NCAC 50, the NC lien, prompt-pay and employment statutes, 40 CFR 82 Subpart F, and 29 CFR 1904 and 1926 as North Carolina adopts them. Honest limit: the course does not reproduce ACCA Manuals J, D, N, Q or CS, Modern Refrigeration and Air Conditioning, or the business-management textbook on the board's reference list. Load and duct design are taught as method items with every number given in the question, so questions that turn on those books' own tables are not in this bank.
Exam structure, topics, who needs it and official resources.
North Carolina licenses heating contractors through the State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinkler Contractors: Heating Group 3 (H3) for forced-air systems of 15 tons or less and any single-family home, Group 2 (H2) above 15 tons, and Group 1 (H1) for steam and hot water. A contractor applicant takes a 4-hour technical part and a 1.5-hour Business & Law part through PSI — open book, 70 to pass, $150, in English. This course prepares both parts. Practice it in the free sample above: no sign-up, with a written explanation on every question.
Heating contractors in North Carolina are licensed statewide by the State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinkler Contractors, under Article 2 of Chapter 87 of the General Statutes and the board's rules in 21 NCAC 50. G.S. 87-21 sorts heating work into three groups. Group 3 (H3) is forced-air heating and cooling with 15 tons or less of mechanical refrigeration capacity — and every system in a single-family residence, whatever its size. Group 2 (H2) is forced-air work above 15 tons. Group 1 (H1) is comfort heating by steam or hot water. Each license is Class I, good for all structures, or Class II, limited to single-family detached dwellings. The Article reaches anyone who, for pay, installs or replaces condensing units, air handlers, gas furnaces, package units or boilers; swapping a failed part such as a compressor, coil, contactor, motor or capacitor counts as a minor repair only when it changes nothing about the energy source, fuel type, or the routing or sizing of vents and piping.
The board may require up to two years of experience before the exam, and up to half of it may come from academic or technical courses (G.S. 87-21(b)(3)). Experience means practical work in the same category — H1, H2 or H3 — including related work that needs no license. The board can also ask for proof that the applicant is at least 18. Apply to the board; once it approves the application, the exam is scheduled through PSI.
By statute every exam has two parts, a technical part and a business and law part. For an H1, H2 or H3 contractor the board's 2026 exam information gives 4.0 hours for the technical part and 1.5 hours for Business and Law; a technician applicant takes the 4-hour technical part only. You skip Business and Law if you already hold an active contractor license from this board and passed its Business and Law exam after August 2003. The board warns that some questions draw on field experience and trade practice. It does not publish a question count or a topic outline, so the size of LICENA's final exam — 100 technical questions in 240 minutes and 40 Business and Law questions in 90 minutes — is our estimate, not the board's figure.
Exam questions follow the 2018 North Carolina codes: Mechanical, Fuel Gas, Energy Conservation and Residential, with the Administrative Code. The 2024 NC codes have been adopted, but the board's code update keeps the exams on 2018 until the 2024 codes take effect, which cannot happen before May 1, 2027 — and no date has been set. The book reference list (effective July 1, 2025) differs by class: the H3 Class I list adds ACCA Manuals J, D, N and Q, Modern Refrigeration and Air Conditioning and Business and Project Management for Contractors; H2 and H1 add Manual CS, and H1 the Boiler and Pressure Vessel Act; the Class II lists carry the Residential Code but not the Mechanical, Fuel Gas or Energy codes. Bring your own bound books, with permanent tabs only, and your own duct calculator; the board provides the NC Heating and Plumbing Figures. LICENA's code questions are keyed to the 2018 text and checked against the 2024 text.
The exam is taken by computer through PSI, and the score for each part is shown as soon as you finish. The fee is $150: $75 for the application and $75 for the exam (21 NCAC 50 .1101). The passing score is 70 on each part (21 NCAC 50 .0305). If you fail, you may not retest until 90 days after the last exam, and within six months of the approved exam date you may retake only the part you failed (G.S. 87-21(b)(6)). The exams are given in English; the board's exam materials mention no other language, so LICENA keeps the English exam term next to every translation.
The full course is 500 questions in five blocks: Business & Law · mechanical, ducts and exhaust · fuel gas and venting · refrigeration, energy, loads and service · hydronic, steam and commercial systems. An H3 candidate can focus on Blocks 1–4; H1 and H2 candidates add Block 5. At 30 questions a day that is under three weeks: one pass to find the gaps, a second pass on the blocks you missed, then the timed final. The final exam comes in three versions — H3 (technical from Blocks 2–4), H1/H2 (technical from Blocks 2–5) and Business & Law only (Block 1) — each part graded at 70%. The free EPA 608 practice test drills the federal refrigerant rules every HVAC technician needs.
Try the full bank free for 3 days — no card needed. Then $9.99 for your first month and $19.99/month after that if you decide to continue, cancel anytime. A school sells a full prepaid package; this is a question bank you can stop at any time — and you study on your phone, in your language, whenever you have a few minutes.
Continue North Carolina Heating Contractor practice The free sample above stays free. Creating an account is free — no card needed.LICENA gives you practice questions to study with. We are not an accredited school and we do not guarantee that you will pass any exam.
LICENA provides online practice only. Registration, testing and licensing are handled by the North Carolina State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinkler Contractors and its exam vendor PSI — not by LICENA. LICENA is not affiliated with the board or PSI.