EPA 608 Type I certification

A small appliance is any appliance fully manufactured, charged, and hermetically sealed in a factory with five pounds or less of refrigerant.

What the rule says

"Persons who maintain, service, or repair small appliances must be certified as Type I technicians."

Equipment this applies to

• Household or commercial refrigerators and freezers. Factory-sealed with 5 lb or less of refrigerant, so it is a small appliance.
• Window, portable or packaged terminal AC units. Named explicitly in the small appliance definition.
• Vending machines, water coolers, under-counter ice makers. Named explicitly in the small appliance definition.
• Dehumidifiers. Named explicitly in the small appliance definition.

Also typically: Household and commercial refrigerators and freezers · Window, portable and packaged terminal air conditioners and heat pumps · Dehumidifiers · Under-the-counter ice makers · Vending machines · Drinking water coolers · Medical and industrial research refrigeration

This is the only type with a mail-in testing option, and the only one where the passing score is different: 84 percent for the mail-in format rather than 70.

What the exam actually covers

Every path includes the Core section, which is 54 distinct topics in our bank across 93 questions. Then you add the section for your type. The breakdown below is the topic distribution of our own question bank, mapped to the published outline, so it shows where the weight of the material sits rather than guessing.

Core (Group I), 54 topics

Montreal caa 5Odp chlorine 5Ozone chemistry 4Phaseout schedule 4Pt charts 4Superheat subcool 4Vc cycle states 4Certification types 3Industry outlook 3Sales restriction 3Three rs definitions 3608 vs 609 2Evacuation dehydration 2Non condensables 2Ozone effects 2Recordkeeping 2Vc cycle components 2Venting exceptions 2Venting prohibition 2Apprentice supervision 1Disposal 1Evacuation purpose 1Evacuation vacuum measurement 1Exempt substitutes 1

Type I: Small Appliances, 30 topics

Recovery techniques 9Evacuation requirements 7Equipment certification 6Sealed system access 6Small appliance definition 4Leak handling 3Certification types 2Charging topping off 2Covered equipment examples 2Disposal recovery levels 2Pre 1993 equipment 2Recovery 90 rule 2Safe disposal responsibility 2Verification statement 2Disposal equipment 1Evacuation 4 inhg 1Exam structure 1Open book availability 1Open book limitations 1Open book pass threshold 1Passive recovery technique 1Proctored pass threshold 1Recovery 80 90 rationale 1Recovery 80 rule 1

The mail-in option, and its catch

Type I is the only type with a mail-in testing route, and the only one with a different passing score: 84 percent rather than 70, which on a 50-question test is 42 correct. The higher bar is because the mail-in format is open book.

The catch is that a mail-in Type I cannot count toward Universal. Universal requires a proctored core, so if you think you might want Universal later, sitting Type I proctored keeps that door open.

Practice it

Drill the Type I section free, and anything you miss goes into your notebook so you can come back to exactly the questions that caught you out.

Before you book

• Where to take the exam: all 87 EPA-approved organisations, 15 of which test remotely or online.
• What score you actually need, and why the widely quoted 72 percent is not what the regulation says.
• Still not sure which type? The chooser works it out from the equipment you service.

One thing that can change the answer

The regulation says plainly that "persons who dispose of small appliances, MVACs, and MVAC-like appliances are not required to be certified." Disposal of medium, high, very high or low-pressure appliances still requires the matching type. So the same person can need certification to service a unit and not need it to scrap a different one.

Sources

Certification types and what each authorises: 40 CFR 82.161. Equipment and pressure-class definitions: 40 CFR 82.152. Exam structure and passing scores: 40 CFR Part 82, Subpart F, Appendix D. Topic counts are from this site's own question bank, mapped to the published outline. Verified 2026-08-15.