(1) For certification purposes, 2,000 hours of employment is considered one year. See RCW 18.106.070(2).

(2) When you renew your certificate, you must document your previous years' plumbing work by accurately completing the department's approved form and submitting it to the department.

(3) If you have completed a one, two, three, four or more years plumbing construction trainee program, you must have the necessary training hours for the year in which you are registered. No more than fifty percent of the minimum work experience needed to qualify for plumbing certification is allowed for any training school program. See RCW 18.106.040.

(4) Subsections (1) through (3) of this section do not apply to the backflow assembly maintenance and repair specialty certification as years of employment are not required for this specialty. Applicants for this specialty designation are required to have fulfilled the requirements in WAC 296-400A-121 and pay the applicable fees in WAC 296-400A-045(2).

(5) Experience obtained as a backflow assembly maintenance and repair specialty may not be applied toward journey level or specialty plumber certification.

(6) For experience in another country, if an individual has a journey level plumbing certificate from a country outside the United States that requires that at least four years of plumbing construction training and certification is obtained by examination, the individual may be eligible for four thousand hours of the specialty credit allowed towards the qualification to take the Washington journey level plumbers examination. No more than two years of the required training to become a Washington journey level plumber may be for work described for specialty plumbers or technicians in WAC 296-400A-010. In addition to the maximum of four thousand hours credit that may be allowed by this subsection, an additional four thousand hours of new commercial/industrial experience must be obtained using a training certificate in the state while under the supervision of a journey level plumber. Documentation substantiating the individual's out-of-country experience must be submitted in English.

(7) Out of country experience credit is not allowed toward a specialty plumbing certificate.