Ohio licenses boiler plant operators in three grades under Section 4104.19 of the Revised Code: the Low Pressure Boiler Operator License for steam boilers up to 15 psi, the High Pressure Boiler Operator License above 15 psi, and the Stationary Steam Engineer License for steam turbines over 30 horsepower and high-pressure boilers. Each license is examined by PSI in a closed-book, three-hour, computer-based sitting – 30, 40, and 50 questions – passed at 70 percent. This program prepares candidates for all three examinations.
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Three licenses, one ladder
Ohio organises its boiler-plant workforce as a ladder of three licenses, and the rungs are defined by two numbers: 15 psi and 30 horsepower. The Low Pressure Boiler Operator License covers steam boilers that generate steam at not more than 15 psi – the heating plants of schools, hospitals, and commercial buildings. The High Pressure Boiler Operator License covers steam boilers above 15 psi, the power-plant boiler room. The Stationary Steam Engineer License stands at the top and changes the subject: steam turbines operating at a pressure of more than 15 psi and in excess of 30 horsepower, together with the high-pressure boilers that feed them. Section 4104.19 of the Ohio Revised Code creates all three, and the Superintendent of Industrial Compliance, in the Department of Commerce’s Division of Industrial Compliance, issues them.
The three licenses are examined separately, by PSI under contract with the Division, and this program treats them as what they are: one profession at three altitudes. Most candidates enter at the rung their plant requires and climb as experience accumulates, and Ohio’s experience rules are written to reward exactly that climb – each license’s hours can be built toward the next.
The licensing system at a glance
| Item | Verified position |
|---|---|
| Licenses in this program | Low Pressure Boiler Operator License; High Pressure Boiler Operator License; Stationary Steam Engineer License – three licenses under Ohio Revised Code Section 4104.19, covered in one program |
| Licensing authority | Ohio Department of Commerce, Division of Industrial Compliance; licenses issued by the Superintendent of Industrial Compliance under ORC 4104.19 |
| Examination administrator | PSI, under contract with the Division of Industrial Compliance. Examinations are computer-based, CLOSED BOOK, three hours, with an examination fee of $100 per the PSI Candidate Information Bulletin |
| Low Pressure Boiler Operator | 30 questions. Scope: steam boilers that generate not more than 15 psi. Passing score 70 percent |
| High Pressure Boiler Operator | 40 questions. Scope: steam boilers that generate more than 15 psi. Passing score 70 percent |
| Stationary Steam Engineer | 50 questions. Scope: steam turbines operating at a pressure of more than 15 psi and in excess of 30 horsepower, and high-pressure boilers. Passing score 70 percent |
| Experience routes (OAC 1301:3-5-10) | Each license: 2,000 hours of operating experience, or a shorter experience-plus-course route – Low Pressure: 400 hours plus an approved 50-hour course; High Pressure: 700 hours plus an approved 75-hour course, or a low pressure license plus 400 hours of high-pressure experience plus a 75-hour course; Stationary Steam Engineer: 700 hours plus an approved 125-hour course, or a high pressure license plus 700 hours of steam-turbine experience. Course providers and courses require Division approval, and an application is required before enrolling in a course for experience credit |
| Statutory floor (ORC 4104.19) | Age 18 or over; one year’s experience in the construction, installation, maintenance, repair, or operation of high pressure steam boilers or turbines, or the combination of experience and education the Superintendent accepts as the equivalent; application filed not more than 60 nor less than 30 days before the examination |
Experience: two doors to every license
Ohio’s experience rule, at rule 1301:3-5-10 of the Administrative Code, gives every license two doors. The long door is 2,000 hours of operating experience in the license’s scope. The short door pairs fewer hours with a Division-approved course: for Low Pressure, 400 hours plus a 50-hour approved course; for High Pressure, 700 hours plus a 75-hour course – or a stronger variant for candidates already licensed low pressure, who may combine their license with 400 hours of high-pressure experience and the 75-hour course; for Stationary Steam Engineer, 700 hours plus a 125-hour course, or a current high pressure license plus 700 additional hours of steam turbine operating experience with the coursework the rule prescribes.
Three disciplines govern the doors. Experience counts only if completed after July 1, 1998. Courses and their providers must be approved by the Division – an unapproved course, however good, buys no credit. And a candidate who wants course credit must apply to the Division before enrolling in the course, not after completing it. Behind the rule stands the statute’s floor: age 18, and one year’s experience in the construction, installation, maintenance, repair, or operation of high pressure steam boilers or turbines, or the combination of experience and education the Superintendent accepts as its equivalent.
The examinations: closed book, three hours, seventy percent
PSI delivers all three examinations on computer at its test centres, closed book, in three hours, for an examination fee of $100 per the PSI Candidate Information Bulletin. The Low Pressure examination carries 30 questions, the High Pressure 40, and the Stationary Steam Engineer 50; each may add 5 to 10 unscored experimental questions that do not count toward the result. The passing score is 70 percent on all three. Candidates may bring a silent, non-printing, non-programmable calculator, and the score report is issued at the test centre on completion – Ohio candidates know their result before they leave the building.
Closed book is the fact to build preparation around. These examinations test what the operator carries in memory – pressures, procedures, sequences, and numbers – without a code book on the desk. That is a deliberate design for licenses whose holders make decisions at the boiler front at 3 a.m., and it rewards preparation that builds recall rather than lookup skill.
What each examination weighs
The PSI bulletin publishes the outline of each sitting, and the outlines tell a ladder story. The Low Pressure examination gives its largest weight to the heating plant’s daily craft – operating procedures, boiler devices, combustion and draft, heating sources – with feedwater arrangement and makeup water close behind. The High Pressure examination shifts weight to the machine itself: boiler design, boiler operation, auxiliary support equipment, and the indicators and devices that watch a power boiler, with environmental control entering the field. The Stationary Steam Engineer examination keeps the boiler core and adds the turbine world – steam turbine design, turbine associated equipment – plus an explicit mathematics and formulas section that neither operator examination carries. A candidate climbing the ladder should expect each sitting to feel less like a repeat and more like a widening.
Scheduling and application discipline
The statute writes the calendar into the application: an applicant files not more than 60 nor less than 30 days before the examination, on the Superintendent’s forms. Around that window the practical sequence runs: fix the license; verify the experience route – hours alone, or hours plus an approved course, with the Division’s application filed before course enrollment where course credit is claimed; document the hours; file within the window; schedule with PSI; and sit. Candidates who misjudge the sequence – a course taken before approval, an application filed late – lose months rather than points, which is why this program treats the route as part of the curriculum.
Who the Ohio licenses serve
Ohio’s plant stock is the industrial Midwest’s: manufacturing plants with process steam, university and hospital power plants, municipal utilities, and the commercial heating stock of a cold-winter state. The three licenses map onto the crews those plants run – the heating-plant operator, the power-boiler operator, the engineer responsible for turbine generation. The course routes reflect the State’s training economy: approved courses run at career centres and technical colleges across Ohio, and the rule’s design lets a working operator convert classroom hours into licensure time without leaving the trade.
The difficulty of the Ohio sittings
Three facts set the difficulty. Closed book removes the safety net many operator examinations provide. The 70 percent line is uniform but the examinations are not parallel: the engineer sitting’s mathematics section and turbine content demand preparation the operator sittings do not. And the experience routes mean candidates arrive with uneven preparation – the 2,000-hour candidate knows the plant but may never have studied combustion theory; the course candidate knows the theory with 400 hours of plant. Each profile fails differently, and honest preparation starts by naming which candidate you are.
What the PassProfessor program will cover
Practice in the examinations’ own shape. The Ohio examinations are closed-book, computer-based PSI sittings of 30, 40, and 50 questions in three hours, and the program in the works practises in that shape – closed-book sets for each of the three licenses, timed to the sitting, so recall is trained the way the closed book demands.
Written from the primary sources. The program is written from Section 4104.19 of the Revised Code, rule 1301:3-5-10 of the Administrative Code, and the PSI Candidate Information Bulletin’s published outlines for each license. Topic weighting follows the bulletin’s own distribution, license by license, so study time lands where the questions are.
The route beside the items. Around the practice, the program carries the experience architecture whole – both doors for each license, the approval rules for courses and providers, the pre-enrollment application, and the statute’s 30-to-60-day filing window – because Ohio’s route has more ways to lose a season than its examination has ways to lose a point.
Preparation only. This is preparation for examinations administered by PSI for the Ohio Department of Commerce, Division of Industrial Compliance. PassProfessor is not affiliated with PSI or the Department of Commerce, no completion of this program is reported to the Division, and nothing in the program substitutes for any step in the licensing process, including any approved course a candidate takes for experience credit.
Tell me when enrollment opens. The Ohio Stationary Steam Engineer and Boiler Operator program is in the works and enrollment is not yet open. Leave an email address and PassProfessor will write to you when the program is ready – and only about this program. No date is promised, because the program will open when it meets the standard described above, not before.
Frequently asked questions
What are Ohio’s three boiler licenses?
The Low Pressure Boiler Operator License (steam boilers generating not more than 15 psi), the High Pressure Boiler Operator License (steam boilers generating more than 15 psi), and the Stationary Steam Engineer License (steam turbines operating at more than 15 psi and in excess of 30 horsepower, and high-pressure boilers), all under Section 4104.19 of the Ohio Revised Code.
How many questions are on each Ohio examination?
Per the PSI Candidate Information Bulletin: 30 questions on the Low Pressure examination, 40 on the High Pressure, and 50 on the Stationary Steam Engineer. Each sitting is three hours, closed book, computer-based, and 5 to 10 additional unscored experimental questions may appear.
What is the passing score for the Ohio examinations?
70 percent on each of the three examinations, per the PSI bulletin.
How much experience does each Ohio license require?
The rule at 1301:3-5-10 offers two routes per license: 2,000 hours of operating experience, or a course route – Low Pressure: 400 hours plus an approved 50-hour course; High Pressure: 700 hours plus an approved 75-hour course, or a low pressure license plus 400 high-pressure hours plus the course; Stationary Steam Engineer: 700 hours plus an approved 125-hour course, or a high pressure license plus 700 hours of steam turbine experience with prescribed coursework.
Must the course be approved before I take it?
Yes, in effect twice over: the course and its provider must be approved by the Division of Industrial Compliance for the hours to count, and the rule requires an application for course credit before enrolling in the course.
When must I file my license application?
Section 4104.19 requires the application to be filed not more than 60 nor less than 30 days before the examination.
What does the Ohio examination cost?
The PSI Candidate Information Bulletin states an examination fee of $100. That is the examination vendor’s fee, not a PassProfessor charge.
Can I use a calculator on the Ohio examinations?
Yes – a silent, non-printing, non-programmable calculator may be used, per the PSI bulletin.
When do I learn my result?
The score report is issued at the test centre on completion of the examination, per the PSI bulletin.
Is PassProfessor affiliated with Ohio or PSI?
No. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider, not affiliated with the Ohio Department of Commerce or PSI. The program confers no license and reports nothing to the Division.