North American Technician Excellence, Inc. (NATE) is a national non-profit testing and certification organization incorporated in 1997 for the purpose of recognizing and promoting technician excellence in the installation and service of heating and cooling equipment. The NATE Air Conditioning Excellence (ACE) exams enjoy broad-based industry support. Educators, distributors, technicians, contractors, manufacturers, trade associations, utilities, and consumers are all important contributors to, and benefactors of the NATE certification program.

Tests are currently available for INSTALLATION and SERVICE technicians. These tests give technicians a clear career path and recognize different levels of experience and knowledge.

Lamar Institute of Technology partners with the NATE organization to offer exams to students enrolled in our Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) program as well as technicians employed in the community.

For more information on cost of exams and testing times, call the LIT ACT Testing Center at 409-839-2027 or 409-880-8687.

This technician primarily prepares the installation site (including removal of existing HVAC/R equipment), fabricates connections, and assembles systems as specified in the installation instructions. The technician must be able to properly power up and set control positions to cycle equipment through primary heating, cooling, and blower operation under on-site or off-site supervision of a service or senior technician. The installation technician takes specialized readings, such as temperatures, refrigerant circuit pressure, and basic VOM electrical readings, with both operating and non-operating equipment, as may be required by others.

This technician must be able to accomplish the same tasks as an installation technician, as well as to independently power up and adjust control settings to cycle equipment through all designed-for sequences. A service technician must be able to acquire, evaluate, and interpret such readings as may be necessary to determine the adequacy and acceptability of system operation to meet specifications. This technician must be able to perform sufficient field diagnostic procedures as necessary to determine causes of inadequate performance and identify corrective actions as needed.