Arkansas licenses its Master Plumbers through the State Board of Health and the Arkansas Department of Health’s Plumbing and Natural Gas Section, under Title 17, Chapter 38 of the Arkansas Code and the licensing rules at 17 CAR Part 66. The master examination is administered by the Department itself — there is no outside testing vendor — in four sections taken one at a time inside a single four-hour sitting, keyed to the 2018 Arkansas Plumbing Code, the 2018 Arkansas Fuel Gas Code, and the Arkansas State Plumbing Law. The PassProfessor Arkansas Master Plumber program prepares candidates for that sitting.
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What this credential certifies
An Arkansas Master Plumber is, in the statute’s own terms, a person skilled in the planning, superintending, and practical installation of plumbing, and familiar with the laws and rules governing it. That definition is the whole job description: the journeyman tier proves a plumber can install work correctly; the master tier proves the plumber can plan it, lay it out, size it, supervise it, and answer for it. Only a licensed master plumber may use or display the title “master plumber” in Arkansas, and the responsibility is concrete: in any city or town, and in any sewerage or water district, association, or utility gas system, no plumbing may be installed unless a licensed master plumber — or a restricted licensed plumber within that license’s scope — responsible for proper installation is in charge at all times.
Arkansas keeps this structure compact. There is no separate state plumbing contractor license under Chapter 38, and no separate business-and-law contractor examination standing between a journeyman and the master license; general contractor licensing belongs to a separate Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board and a different credential. The master examination is therefore the single examined gate at the top of the Arkansas plumbing ladder, aimed at the planning-and-superintending half of the statutory definition.
The examination at a glance
| Item | Verified position |
|---|---|
| Program | Arkansas Master Plumber: the top examined plumbing tier in Arkansas |
| Regulator | State Board of Health / Arkansas Department of Health (ADH), Plumbing and Natural Gas Section, under Ark. Code Ann. Title 17, Chapter 38 and 17 CAR Part 66 |
| Eligibility body | The Committee of Plumbing Examiners determines applicant eligibility and advises the Board on rulemaking |
| Examination administrator | Board-administered by the ADH Plumbing and Natural Gas Section / Committee framework — no third-party vendor |
| Examination structure | Four sections, given one at a time in random order, inside a single four-hour sitting; candidates are not timed per section |
| Tested references | 2018 Arkansas Plumbing Code + 2018 Arkansas Fuel Gas Code + the Arkansas State Plumbing Law |
| Passing standard | The Board does not publish a passing score for the Master Plumber examination, and none is stated in this program |
| Fees (Board rule) | Application fee $125; annual license fee $200; license expires December 31 |
| Continuing education | No continuing-education requirement applies to master plumber renewal — renewal turns on fees and penalties only |
| Administrator note | PassProfessor is independent and is not affiliated with the State Board of Health or the Arkansas Department of Health |
Four sections, one sitting, no per-section clock
The Arkansas master examination is not a single block of multiple-choice questions, and candidates who prepare as if it were will misjudge the day. The Board’s own Master Examination Information Guide describes four sections, handed to the candidate one at a time in random order — each completed section is exchanged for the next — with four hours allowed to complete all four. No section carries its own time limit, so the pacing judgment belongs entirely to the candidate: time spent perfecting the drawing is time taken from the sizing exercises and the question section, in an order that cannot be predicted.
Section 1 — Drawings and sizing. The candidate draws a drain, waste, and vent riser diagram for a provided floor plan, on paper the Department provides, in isometric format — vents drawn in blue, drains drawn in red, with sizing notations wherever pipe sizes change. The same section requires water-system sizing from a written building description, worked from Appendix E of the 2018 Arkansas Plumbing Code, and a calculation of fixture spacing in a given room.
Section 2 — Questions. Fifty questions drawn at random from three sources: the 2018 Arkansas Plumbing Code, the 2018 Arkansas Fuel Gas Code, and the Arkansas State Plumbing Law. The Board’s guide states no split among the three sources, so preparation has to cover all three evenly.
Section 3 — Vents and combustion and ventilation air. The candidate sizes flue-gas venting under Chapter 5 of the 2018 Arkansas Fuel Gas Code and calculates combustion and ventilation air under the cited sections of that code.
Section 4 — Gas pipe sizing. The candidate sizes each segment of a natural gas piping system at various lengths and pressures, using the Longest Length Method in Appendix A of the 2018 Arkansas Fuel Gas Code.
One honest limit belongs here, stated plainly. Section 1 is a genuine drawing-production component: the candidate must produce an isometric riser diagram by hand, in two colors, with sizing notations. A written practice program — including this one — can teach the sizing methods, the venting rules, and the discipline of reading a floor plan, but it cannot rehearse the act of drawing the diagram itself. Candidates should practice producing riser diagrams on paper, under time pressure, as a separate part of their preparation.
The tested codes are Arkansas codes
The examination is keyed to Arkansas instruments, not to the bare model code underneath them. The 2018 Arkansas Plumbing Code is Arkansas’s own codification, built on the 2018 International Plumbing Code and carried at 17 CAR Part 65; the 2018 Arkansas Fuel Gas Code is codified at 17 CAR Part 67 and published separately. The tested edition and the adopted edition match — Arkansas adopted the 2018 Arkansas Plumbing Code in 2021 and examines on that same code — but the distinction still matters in the study room: a candidate working from a generic 2018 International Plumbing Code text is working from the base document, not from the Arkansas code the Board’s guide names, and Section 1’s water-sizing exercise runs specifically through Appendix E of the Arkansas code.
How the master sitting differs from the journeyman sitting
Arkansas examines both tiers through the same department framework, and the published differences are specific. On the master examination, gas work is separated into its own two sections — venting and combustion air in Section 3, gas pipe sizing in Section 4 — and Section 1 adds the fixture-spacing calculation. On the journeyman examination, the gas material is combined into a single section, the fourth section is a code-illustrations exercise in identifying components from diagrams, and Section 1 calls for a 45-degree offset calculation instead. The master sitting pushes toward design: sizing complete systems, spacing fixtures, and laying out drainage and venting on paper.
Who may sit: experience first, then the journeyman year
The master examination is an experience-gated sitting. An applicant must show a minimum of five years of experience, documented by records, affidavits, or bona fide evidence from licensing agencies or qualified former employers, showing experience in all phases of plumbing and natural gas work. A current Arkansas Journeyman Plumber documents that experience through work history covering the journeymanship — and must additionally have held the journeyman license for one full year before becoming eligible for the master examination. Registered professional engineers with special expertise in plumbing engineering may also be considered by the Committee of Plumbing Examiners, and the Committee may waive the journeyman-year requirement in whole or in part for extreme hardship. Eligibility is not self-declared: applications are reviewed by the Committee at its regular monthly meetings, and approved applicants receive a Notification of Examination by mail.
Below the master tier, the ladder’s base is a registered apprenticeship of at least four years — 8,000 hours of practical work paired with 640 hours of related technical instruction — after which a completing apprentice has one year to pass the journeyman examination. By the time a candidate reaches this sitting, Arkansas expects years of supervised installation behind the application; the examination is written for a candidate who has run work, not one who has only studied it.
Fees, the calendar, and what failure costs
Fees for this credential are set by Board rule; the statute authorizes the Board to set reasonable license and examination fees and states no dollar amounts itself. Under 17 CAR Part 66, the master application fee is $125 and the annual license fee is $200, with the license expiring December 31. The $125 is an application fee — the sources state no separate additional first-attempt examination fee beyond it — and all fees must accompany the application, because an application submitted without the required fee is not considered. An additional examination fee of $50 is charged when a candidate fails to appear without proper notification or fails any portion of the test, and nonscheduled or oral examinations carry an additional $50 per examination; no waiting period or attempt limit for retakes is stated in the Board’s published sources beyond that fee. The statute sets a floor of at least two regular examinations a year; the Department’s published 2026 calendar lists eleven examination dates across the year, with no examinations in November. An initial-license fee waiver exists for applicants in the categories established by Act 725 of 2021.
Holding the license: renewal without a continuing-education requirement
The Arkansas master license runs on an annual cycle. It expires December 31, is renewable by February 1, and after that date a late penalty of $5.00 per month applies; all unpaid fees and penalties must be paid before renewal. One position deserves emphasis because candidates arriving from other states routinely get it wrong: Arkansas imposes no continuing-education requirement on master plumber renewal. A full reading of the licensing statute and rules returns no continuing-education hours for master, journeyman, or apprentice renewal — renewal turns on fees and penalties only. Refresher-training obligations that do exist in Arkansas attach to other credentials, such as plumbing and gas inspector certification, and do not transfer to this license. Reinstatement of an expired master license is priced in the rule at $325 plus back fees and penalties, with the Committee deciding whether an examination is required after five consecutive years of delinquency. Arkansas also maintains a separate Restricted Lifetime Master Plumber license — available to a plumber licensed as a master for at least twelve years who is sixty-five or older — which carries a lifetime term but narrower practice rights; it is not an examined route and is not the credential this program prepares candidates for.
What the PassProfessor program will cover
Built to the Board’s own guide. The PassProfessor Arkansas Master Plumber program is organized around the four sections the Department publishes: drawing-and-sizing method for Section 1, including Appendix E water sizing and fixture spacing; the three-source question field for Section 2; vent sizing and combustion-air calculation for Section 3; and Longest Length Method gas pipe sizing for Section 4. Every item is written from scratch against primary sources; no item is drawn from another provider’s material. The program also covers the licensing framework around the sitting — Committee eligibility review, the fee schedule, the annual renewal cycle, and the responsible-charge duty — because Arkansas examines its master plumbers on the law as well as the code.
The drawing limit, disclosed in the program as it is on this page. PassProfessor prepares candidates in the knowledge and calculation the sitting examines. It cannot rehearse the hand-drawn isometric riser diagram itself; candidates will be directed to paper practice for that component.
Independence, stated plainly. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider, not affiliated with the State Board of Health, the Arkansas Department of Health, or the Committee of Plumbing Examiners, and this program is not an Arkansas course. Completing it confers no license and no exemption; the Department alone licenses, and candidates apply and sit through the Department’s own channels. The companion Arkansas Master Plumber Exam Guide at /arkansas-master-plumber-exam-guide/ walks through the credential, the four sections, and the route in full detail.
Tell me when enrollment opens. The Arkansas Master Plumber program is in the works and enrollment is not yet open. Our catalog now includes preparation for the top plumbing tiers across the country, and this program joins it when it meets the standard described above. Leave an email address and PassProfessor will write to you when the program is ready — and only about this program. No date is promised.
Frequently asked questions
Who licenses Master Plumbers in Arkansas?
The State Board of Health, acting through the Arkansas Department of Health’s Plumbing and Natural Gas Section, under Ark. Code Ann. Title 17, Chapter 38 and the rules at 17 CAR Part 66. The Committee of Plumbing Examiners determines applicant eligibility and advises the Board.
Who administers the Arkansas Master Plumber examination?
The Department itself. Examinations are board-administered through the Arkansas Department of Health Plumbing and Natural Gas Section and Committee framework; no third-party testing vendor is named in the Board’s sources.
What does the master examination consist of?
Four sections taken one at a time in random order inside a four-hour sitting: a drawings and sizing section built around a hand-drawn isometric riser diagram, a fifty-question section from the Arkansas codes and plumbing law, a vents and combustion-air section, and a gas pipe sizing section.
What references is the examination keyed to?
The 2018 Arkansas Plumbing Code, the 2018 Arkansas Fuel Gas Code, and the Arkansas State Plumbing Law — the three sources named in the Board’s Master Examination Information Guide.
What score passes the Arkansas Master Plumber examination?
The Board does not publish a passing score for the master examination, and this program states none. Be skeptical of any source that prints one.
How much experience does the master examination require?
A minimum of five years of documented experience in all phases of plumbing and natural gas work. A journeyman license holder must also have held the Arkansas journeyman license for one full year before sitting, subject to a Committee hardship waiver.
What fees apply?
Under the Board’s rule, a $125 application fee and a $200 annual license fee. A $50 additional examination fee applies after a failure to appear without proper notification or a failure of any portion of the test.
Does Arkansas require continuing education for master plumber renewal?
No. No continuing-education requirement applies to master plumber renewal in Arkansas; renewal turns on fees and the $5.00-per-month late penalty after February 1.
Is there a separate Arkansas plumbing contractor license or business-and-law examination?
No. Chapter 38 contains no separate state plumbing contractor license and no business-and-law contractor examination. The master license is the top examined tier.
Is PassProfessor affiliated with the Arkansas Department of Health?
No. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider. The Department alone licenses master plumbers and administers the examinations.
When does enrollment open?
The program is in the works and enrollment is not yet open. Leave an email address on this page and PassProfessor will write to you when the program is ready — and only about this program.