Texas Journeyman PrepGetting licensed in Texas

Checked against primary sources 2026-09-04

Texas Residential Appliance Installer License: What It Allows

One examination, no hours, and a scope drawn around appliances and pools rather than around buildings. This is the only individual Texas electrical license held by a person that owes no continuing education, and the only one whose hours count toward nothing else.

Get my exam date, free

On this page
  1. What the license is
  2. An examination, and no hours
  3. What the license permits
  4. The contractor version
  5. Fees, renewal and continuing education
  6. What a class can and cannot do for you
  7. Where this license does not lead
  8. Questions people ask
  9. What this page cites

What the license is

Tex. Occ. Code 1305.002(12-e) defines a residential appliance installer as a person, other than a licensed electrician, who is licensed to perform residential appliance installation, including pool-related electrical maintenance.

Read the phrase other than a licensed electrician, because it does most of the work. This is not a starter version of an electrician license and it is not held alongside one. It is a separate credential for a separate scope, aimed at somebody who installs appliances and services pool equipment.

It sits inside the fourteen licenses TDLR issues under Chapter 1305 and 16 TAC Chapter 73, eleven of which attach to a person and three to a business. Our page on all fourteen license types sets out where it falls among the rest.

An examination, and no hours

Tex. Occ. Code 1305.1617 asks an applicant for this license to pass a residential appliance installer examination. That is the requirement, and the section adds nothing to it.

There is no on-the-job training figure anywhere in the chapter for this license. Every other individual license except the two apprentice ones carries a number of supervised hours: four thousand for a residential wireman, eight thousand for a journeyman, twelve thousand for a master. This one carries none.

What the exam covers is written into the statute rather than left to a syllabus. Tex. Occ. Code 1305.162(d) has it test the materials and methods used in the installation of residential appliances and pool-related devices, and compliance with the National Electrical Code standards the executive director has adopted. It is a code exam with a narrow subject.

TDLR's examination statistics for fiscal year 2025 record 480 attempts on the appliance installer exam with 172 passes, a rate of 35.8 percent. That is the friendliest rate among the license types carrying real volume, and two thirds of the room still walked out without it.

The application form is ELC011, printed by TDLR as License Application Form - Residential Appliance Installer. The department fee is thirty dollars and the examination fee is sixty-four, paid to the examination provider rather than to TDLR. Initial applications go in by mail.

What the license permits

TDLR sets out the pool side of the scope on its own electricians page, and it is more specific than the statutory definition.

A holder of this license may install, uninstall or replace pool-related electrical devices on the load side of control centers, provided the installation stays compliant with the National Electrical Code. The devices TDLR names include underwater lights, ground-fault circuit interrupter units, pumps, motors, heaters and automation systems.

The line is drawn at the circuit rather than at the device. TDLR states that work requiring new or upgraded line circuits has to be performed by a licensed electrical contractor with a designated master electrician, and that a holder of this license may install pool devices that do not increase amperage and do not require access to the main breaker panel.

That gives you a test to carry onto a job. If the work adds a circuit, raises the load or opens the service panel, it belongs to somebody holding an electrician license and working through a contractor. If it swaps a pump on an existing circuit, it does not.

The contractor version

Two licenses share this name and people mix them up. Tex. Occ. Code 1305.002(12-d) defines a residential appliance installation contractor as a business entity, other than an electrical contractor or electrical sign contractor, engaged in residential appliance installation contracting, including pool-related electrical maintenance.

Tex. Occ. Code 1305.1618 sets what that business has to do. It holds a residential appliance installer license or employs someone who does, it establishes proof of financial responsibility, and it maintains workers compensation coverage. There is no examination for it, in the same way there is none for the electrical contractor or the electrical sign contractor.

The financial responsibility figures are not scaled down for the smaller license. 16 TAC 73.40(a) reaches all three business licenses with the same minimums: three hundred thousand dollars per occurrence combined for property damage and bodily injury, six hundred thousand aggregate, and three hundred thousand aggregate for products and completed operations. Our page on the insurance requirements covers the certificate and the carrier standard that go with them.

The number carries letters. TICL goes in front of a residential appliance installation contractor license number under 16 TAC 73.54(c), the way TECL goes in front of an electrical contractor's. The application form is ELC012.

Why both licenses matter to one person: 16 TAC 73.70(a) has an individual licensee provide all electrical work requiring a license through a licensed contractor or an employing governmental entity. The installer license on its own is not permission to take work directly, so working for yourself here means holding both.

Fees, renewal and continuing education

Thirty dollars to apply for the installer license and a hundred and ten for the installation contractor license, under 16 TAC 73.80(a). Renewal costs the same figure as the application for each, under 16 TAC 73.80(b), for any license expiring on or after 1 February 2014. All department fees are non-refundable (16 TAC 73.80(e)), and the fees page carries every amount in the chapter.

The license runs one year from the date it was issued and renews annually (16 TAC 73.22(a)). That is your own anniversary date rather than a shared calendar date, so diary it.

Continuing education is where this license is genuinely unusual. 16 TAC 73.25(b) applies four hours a year to ten license types, and neither the residential appliance installer nor the installation contractor is on that list. Four license types owe nothing: the three business licenses and this one.

So a residential appliance installer is the only individual license held by a person that owes no continuing education. The tempting explanation, that business licenses owe none, does not survive contact with the list, and anyone who tells you every Texas electrical licensee owes four hours a year has not read past the heading of the rule.

What a class can and cannot do for you

People search for a Texas residential appliance installer class, so here is the honest position. TDLR asks for no course, no school and no training hours for this license. The statute asks for a passing score on the examination and stops there (Tex. Occ. Code 1305.1617).

That does not make a class pointless. The exam is a code exam and the Texas exams are open book, so a course that teaches you where things live in the National Electrical Code is buying you exam technique. It is buying you technique rather than credit, and the difference matters when somebody is quoting you a price.

What a course cannot do here is shorten a requirement, because there is no hour requirement to shorten. That route exists on two other licenses and neither one reaches this license. An approved career and technology education program can stand in for the residential wireman's four thousand hours (Tex. Occ. Code 1305.157), and an approved accelerated journeyman program credits four thousand hours toward the journeyman license under 16 TAC 73.112.

Be careful with the word approved. The only things TDLR registers in this program are continuing education providers and the courses they offer, and this license owes no continuing education at all. So there is no such thing as a TDLR approved residential appliance installer school, and a page telling you otherwise is describing something that does not exist. Our page on classes and programs in Texas sets out the four kinds of training that do exist and which of them count toward hours.

Where this license does not lead

Hours worked on this license do not count toward another one, and TDLR says so directly. The reason is in how the other requirements are written: the journeyman count is supervised hours under a master electrician (Tex. Occ. Code 1305.155), which is not what a residential appliance installer accumulates.

So treat it as a destination rather than a rung. If a journeyman license is the plan, the count starts at zero on the day you decide, and the hours page sets out what each license asks for.

One city rule is worth knowing before you take work in a municipality. Tex. Occ. Code 1305.201(a)(4) preserves a city's ability to collect permit fees for municipal licenses and examinations from appliance installers, while Tex. Occ. Code 1305.201(f) bars a city from collecting a fee from an electrician who holds a license under this chapter. A residential appliance installer holds one, and the two subsections point in opposite directions. Our page on city rules works through what that leaves.

Questions people ask

What is a residential appliance installer license in Texas?

One of the fourteen electrical licenses TDLR issues, and one of the eleven that attach to a person. Tex. Occ. Code 1305.002(12-e) defines the holder as a person, other than a licensed electrician, who is licensed to perform residential appliance installation, including pool-related electrical maintenance. It is a separate license with a narrow scope rather than a junior version of an electrician license.

Is there an exam for the Texas residential appliance installer license?

Yes, and it is the only requirement the statute sets. Tex. Occ. Code 1305.1617 asks an applicant to pass a residential appliance installer examination and asks for nothing else. Tex. Occ. Code 1305.162(d) says what it covers: the materials and methods used in installing residential appliances and pool-related devices, and compliance with the National Electrical Code edition the executive director has adopted. TDLR recorded 480 attempts and 172 passes on that exam in fiscal year 2025.

Do you need experience hours or a class for this license?

Neither. No on-the-job training figure is attached to this license anywhere in Chapter 1305, and TDLR asks for no course, no school and no training hours. That makes it the only individual license besides the two apprentice licenses with no hour requirement behind it. A course can teach you to work the code book for the exam, which is worth something, but it cannot shorten a requirement that does not exist.

What does the residential appliance installer license cost?

Thirty dollars to the department under 16 TAC 73.80(a), and sixty-four dollars to the examination provider. The residential appliance installation contractor license is a hundred and ten dollars. Renewal is the same figure as the application for each of them under 16 TAC 73.80(b), once a year on the anniversary of issuance (16 TAC 73.22(a)). Department fees are non-refundable (16 TAC 73.80(e)).

What is the difference between the installer license and the installation contractor license?

One licenses a person and the other licenses a business. Tex. Occ. Code 1305.1618 has the contractor hold a residential appliance installer license or employ someone who does, establish proof of financial responsibility, and maintain workers compensation coverage. There is no examination for the contractor license. The contractor number carries the letters TICL in front of it under 16 TAC 73.54(c), and the general liability minimums in 16 TAC 73.40(a) apply to it exactly as they apply to an electrical contractor.

Do residential appliance installer hours count toward a journeyman license?

No, and TDLR says so directly. The journeyman count is supervised hours under a master electrician (Tex. Occ. Code 1305.155), which is not what a residential appliance installer accumulates. So this license is a destination rather than a rung on the ladder. If a journeyman license is the plan, the hour count starts at zero.

Your next step

See the exact day you can sit the exam

Type in the hours you have. You get your exam date and your license date, each tied to the rule that sets it. Free, no account.

Get my datesCheck my application

Every figure is cited to 16 TAC 73 or the Occupations Code. Nothing leaves your browser unless you email it to yourself.

What this page cites

NEC and National Electrical Code are registered trademarks of the National Fire Protection Association.

Trojan Digital Marketing is an independent company. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by NFPA, TDLR, PSI Services, or any licensing authority.

Bring your own current copy of the National Electrical Code. The Texas exam is open book.

All practice questions are original. They are not actual exam questions.

Part of the Texas electrician network with Texas Electrician Exam (exam prep) and Texas Electrical Code Prep (code changes).

Built and maintained by Jeff Clerisier, Trojan Digital Marketing.

Every rule here is cited to the section it comes from, and corrections are logged in public with the date. This is study material rather than electrical advice, and it does not replace your own code book or your inspector.

Free, when it changes

Licensing rule changes, the week TDLR makes them

Hours, fees, reciprocity and continuing education change by rule, and the rule is cited every time. One short note when something moves. Unsubscribe in one click.