A steam boiler is a "heating boiler" in Maryland when it operates at pressures not exceeding what?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-101(d)
Apart from the courts, what penalty may the Board itself impose for a violation of the title?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-404(b)
What does it mean to "provide stationary engineer services" under the Maryland Stationary Engineers Act?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-101(f)
What does § 6.5-403 forbid a plant owner or other person to do?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-403
What is the penalty on a first conviction for acting as a stationary engineer without the appropriate license?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-404(a)
What may a second or subsequent conviction for acting as a stationary engineer without the appropriate license bring?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-404(a)
Which body's authority over boiler and pressure vessel safety standards may the Act not supersede?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-103
Which work is left out of "stationary engineer services" by § 6.5-101(f)(2)?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-101(f)
Who at a resource recovery facility that generates steam or electricity needs no license from the Board?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-301(b)
Show all 78 questions (69 more)
The five grades: horsepower and attendance 12
A Grade 3 boiler has no computerized monitoring system. What attendance does the Act require?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-302(c)
A Grade 4 boiler without computerized monitoring heats a school. When must a Grade 4 licensee attend it outside regular school hours?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-302(b)
A Grade 5 boiler has a 24-hour computerized monitoring system and automatic controls. How often must a Grade 5 licensee visit it while it runs?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-302(a)
A Grade 5 boiler has no 24-hour computerized monitoring system. How often must a Grade 5 licensee visit it while it runs?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-302(a)
A monitored Grade 1 boiler stands in a building the public does not use. Which duty still rests on the licensee?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-302(e)
A monitored Grade 4 boiler serves a hospital or hotel. How often must the licensee visit while the building is open for public use?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-302(b)
By whom must a boiler under any of the five grades be inspected?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-302
From what horsepower is a Grade 1 license required?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-302(e)
What horsepower range belongs to Grade 2?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-302(d)
What horsepower range belongs to Grade 3?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-302(c)
What separates Grade 4 from Grade 5, the horsepower being the same?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-302(b)
Which boilers may a Grade 5 licensee oversee?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-302(a)
Qualifying for each grade's examination 11
How long must an applicant have worked as an active Grade 3 engineer, under a licensed Grade 2 or Grade 1, on the first route to the Grade 2 examination?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-303(c)
How many credit hours or continuing education units alone qualify an applicant for the Grade 4 examination?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-303(c)
How much credit toward the Grade 1 or Grade 2 experience does 6 credit hours of classes in boiler safety or operations earn?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-303(c)
How much documented experience working actively as a Grade 5 stationary engineer, at the least, qualifies an applicant for the Grade 4 examination?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-303(c)
How old must an engineer be for the Board to examine the applicant?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-305(a)
Under § 6.5-303.1, how much work experience credit may come from a formal course of study or professional training?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-303.1
What experience does the first route to the Grade 1 examination call for?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-303(c)
What qualifies an applicant for the Grade 5 examination?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-303(c)
Which current active license also earns 1 year of credit toward Grade 1 or Grade 2?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-303(c)
Which degree by itself qualifies an applicant for the Grade 1 or the Grade 2 examination?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-303(c)
With no classes and no marine or Navy certificate, how long must an applicant for the Grade 3 examination have worked actively as a stationary engineer of Grade 4 or Grade 5?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-303(c)
Examination, license and renewal 13
A licensee is about to change name or address. When is written notice to the Board due?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-311
An applicant fails to appear for a scheduled examination. What must the applicant do to sit later?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-308(b)
How far ahead of expiration must the Board send the renewal form and notice?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-312(b)
How long does a stationary engineer license run before it must be renewed?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-312
How many items must be answered correctly to pass the Grade 3, 2 or 1 examination?PSI Qualification Information Bulletin for the Maryland State Board of Stationary Engineers
How many questions are on the Grade 5 and the Grade 4 examinations, by the Board's bulletin?PSI Qualification Information Bulletin for the Maryland State Board of Stationary Engineers
How must a license application be made, by § 6.5-304(b)?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-304(b)
May the Board have a testing service give the examination?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-306
What does the use of unauthorized material during an examination bring?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-308(a)
What limit does the Act put on the examination fee?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-304(a)
What three things must each license show?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-309(c)
When may the Board waive the examination for a person licensed in another state?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-307
Within what time after a license expires must the Board reinstate it, if the renewal terms are met and the fees paid?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-313(a)
The Board and discipline 9
How long is a Board member's term, and how many may be served in a row?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-202(f)
How many members sit on the State Board of Stationary Engineers?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-202(a)
How many of the Board's members must be stationary engineers?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-202(a)
How much practical experience must each engineer member of the Board have?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-202(c)
How often must the Board meet, at the least?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-204(b)
What is the Chief Boiler Inspector's place on the Board?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-202(a)
What must the Board give a person before it takes final action on a license under § 6.5-314?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-315(a)
Which of these is a ground for discipline written into § 6.5-314?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-314(a)
Which of these must the Board weigh in setting a penalty on a licensee under § 6.5-314(a)(2)?Md. Code, Business Occupations and Professions § 6.5-314(a)
Boiler and Pressure Vessel Safety Act 12
An inspector considers a hydrostatic test necessary. Who makes the test?Md. Code, Public Safety § 12-909(e)
An owner keeps using a boiler after a notice prohibiting its use is posted. What civil penalty may the Commissioner assess?Md. Code, Public Safety § 12-915(e)
Before which repairs must notice be given and approval obtained from an inspector?Md. Code, Public Safety § 12-914
How does the Public Safety Article define a "power boiler"?Md. Code, Public Safety § 12-901(k)
How far ahead must the installer notify the Commissioner before installing a boiler, outside an emergency?Md. Code, Public Safety § 12-909(f)
How must the certificate be displayed where the boiler stands in a building?Md. Code, Public Safety § 12-911(d)
How often must a power boiler receive a certificate inspection under the Boiler and Pressure Vessel Safety Act?Md. Code, Public Safety § 12-909(d)
How soon after an accident or explosion must the owner or user notify the Chief Boiler Inspector?Md. Code, Public Safety § 12-909(g)
To earn a 2-year interval between certificate inspections, a power boiler's water must be sampled how often?Md. Code, Public Safety § 12-909(d)
What does the certificate specify besides the date of inspection and the inspection interval?Md. Code, Public Safety § 12-911(a)
What is the criminal penalty for operating a boiler at a pressure exceeding that on its certificate?Md. Code, Public Safety § 12-917
Which heating boiler is outside the inspection and certificate sections of the Act?Md. Code, Public Safety § 12-909(a)
Pumps, valves, traps and water treatment 12
How do steam separators generally remove water droplets from wet steam?U.S. Department of Energy, Improving Steam System Performance: A Sourcebook for Industry, Section 1
On what do mechanical steam traps rely to work?U.S. Department of Energy, Improving Steam System Performance: A Sourcebook for Industry, Section 1
To what oxygen level can deaerators and deaerating heaters bring feedwater, depending on design?U.S. Department of Energy, Improving Steam System Performance: A Sourcebook for Industry, Section 1
What are the three primary types of steam trap?U.S. Department of Energy, Improving Steam System Performance: A Sourcebook for Industry, Section 1
What chemical agent removes oxygen beyond what a deaerator can reach?U.S. Department of Energy, Improving Steam System Performance: A Sourcebook for Industry, Section 1
What do water softeners remove from the supply?U.S. Department of Energy, Improving Steam System Performance: A Sourcebook for Industry, Section 1
What does a float and thermostatic trap have that a plain float and lever trap lacks?U.S. Department of Energy, Improving Steam System Performance: A Sourcebook for Industry, Section 1
What does a pressure reducing valve typically maintain?U.S. Department of Energy, Improving Steam System Performance: A Sourcebook for Industry, Section 1
What does a vacuum breaker do when it opens?U.S. Department of Energy, Improving Steam System Performance: A Sourcebook for Industry, Section 1
What kind of discharge does an inverted bucket trap have?U.S. Department of Energy, Improving Steam System Performance: A Sourcebook for Industry, Section 1
What type of pump is a motor-driven condensate pump, usually?U.S. Department of Energy, Improving Steam System Performance: A Sourcebook for Industry, Section 1
Which three valve types does the sourcebook say typically isolate steam from a branch or component?U.S. Department of Energy, Improving Steam System Performance: A Sourcebook for Industry, Section 1
How this list was compiled: Annotated Code of Maryland, Business Occupations and Professions Article, Title 6.5 (Maryland Stationary Engineers Act, sections 6.5-101 to 6.5-502) and Public Safety Article, Title 12, Subtitle 9 (Boiler and Pressure Vessel Safety Act, sections 12-901 to 12-919), as published by the Maryland General Assembly at https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gbo§ion=6.5-101&enactments=false; and Section 1, Steam System Basics, of Improving Steam System Performance: A Sourcebook for Industry, Second Edition, U.S. Department of Energy, https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2014/05/f15/steamsourcebook.pdf; all read 2026-10-12. Examination facts and the reference list are from the Qualification Information Bulletin for the Maryland State Board of Stationary Engineers, https://test-takers.psiexams.com/api/content/bulletin/540, reached from the Board's page https://www.labor.maryland.gov/license/stateng/statengexam.shtml, both opened 2026-10-12. Licence: Own work. Questions, answer choices and explanations were written for this site from the public laws, rules and publications named as the source; nothing is copied from the real examination, a prep book or another practice test.
How it works
This unofficial Maryland stationary engineer practice test asks 78 of our own questions, most from two laws on the examination's reference list. It is not affiliated with the Maryland State Board of Stationary Engineers.
Read the full guide
The Board's five examinations
Grades 5 and 4 are open book; Grades 3, 2 and 1 are closed book. Every outline covers general knowledge, basic electricity, boilers, burners, pumps and valves, inspections, water treatment, emergency operations and auxiliary equipment. Grades 3 to 1 add sequential operations and chillers.
The laws on the reference list
Every grade's list names the Maryland Stationary Engineers Act (Business Occupations and Professions, Title 6.5) and the Boiler and Pressure Vessel Safety Act (Public Safety, Title 12, Subtitle 9). Sixty-four questions come from those two.
What is left out
The listed textbooks were not used, so boiler types, electricity, burners, sequential and emergency operations and chillers are not asked. Twelve questions on pumps, valves, traps and water treatment come from a U.S. Department of Energy sourcebook, not on the Board's list.
For Grades 5 and 4 the listed references may come into the room, indexed and highlighted but not written in. Study guides may not.
Questions and answers
Is there a Maryland stationary engineer study guide?
The Board publishes none. Its bulletin lists references for each grade, and the Board says those are the only materials it approves. Two of them are public laws, and the law questions here are written from those.
How many questions are on the Maryland stationary engineer exam?
Sixty for Grades 5 and 4, with 42 correct to pass, and 80 for Grades 3, 2 and 1, with 56 correct. Every grade has 120 minutes, by the bulletin read on October 12, 2026.
Which grade of Maryland stationary engineer license do I need?
Section 6.5-302 goes by horsepower: Grade 5 or 4 for 30 to 99, Grade 3 for 100 to 299, Grade 2 for 300 to 499 and Grade 1 for 500 or more. Grade 5 is limited to buildings not open for public use.
Who can take the Grade 5 stationary engineer exam?
An applicant holding a high school or graduate equivalence diploma, under section 6.5-303. The Board examines engineers who are at least 18. Higher grades ask for documented experience in a lower grade, or one of the alternatives the section lists.
Are these the Board's examination questions?
No. Each was written for this page from the Annotated Code of Maryland, the bulletin or a U.S. Department of Energy sourcebook. None comes from the real examination, and the State Board of Stationary Engineers did not write or review them.