This guide covers Philadelphia’s Engineer License end to end: the four grades the Philadelphia Code defines at Section 9-501 and the plant each commands, the requirements common to all grades – age 18, two years as an assistant engineer or helper, and the recommendations of two licensed engineers – the ICC examinations by grade at 80, 60, 70, and 50 open-book questions, the twelve-month examination currency rule, the City’s license fees, and the exemptions that mark where the license’s reach ends.
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The licensing route at a glance
| Item | Verified position |
|---|---|
| License in this program | Engineer License, City of Philadelphia, issued by the Department of Licenses and Inspections under Section 9-501 of the Philadelphia Code. The slot’s working name, Philadelphia Stationary Engineer, is this license: the Code’s graded engineer license for boiler, stationary, and refrigeration plant |
| Grades (Code Section 9-501(2)) | Grade A: steam boiler, stationary and refrigeration engineer. Grade B: refrigeration engineer. Grade C: portable and stationary engineer. Grade D: fireman |
| Requirements (Code Section 9-501(2)(b) and the City’s license service page) | At least 18 years of age; at least two years of experience as an assistant engineer or helper, documented as the City requires; recommendations from two licensed engineers; and a pass on an examination prescribed by the Department for the grade. Examinations are administered for the City by the International Code Council (ICC) |
| Grade A examination (ICC code 314) | 80 multiple-choice questions, OPEN book, 3 hours. Content: turbines, design auxiliaries and operations; boiler operations, maintenance and safety; water treatment; combustion and fuels; accessories and auxiliary equipment; engineering calculations; electrical; controls; pumps and hydronics; refrigeration and cooling towers; boiler design and principles; waste-to-energy and environmental control |
| Grade B examination (ICC code 311) | 60 multiple-choice questions, open book, 3 hours. Content weighted to refrigeration: electrical controls; theory, terminology and general requirements; compressors; evaporators, condensers and cooling towers; piping inspection and field testing; air ducts and insulation; refrigerants; maintenance and repairs; operation procedures |
| Grade C examination (ICC code 335) | 70 multiple-choice questions, open book, 2.5 hours, across ten content areas: boiler operation and safety; fuel and draft; steam systems; boiler water treatment; engineering calculations; boiler fittings and accessories; hydronic systems; feedwater systems; controls; boiler design and principles |
| Grade D examination (ICC code 328) | 50 multiple-choice questions, open book, 2.5 hours. Content: boiler operations (20 percent); feedwater system (20 percent); steam system (20 percent); boiler operation safety (20 percent); boiler fittings (10 percent); boiler water treatment (6 percent); draft system (4 percent) |
| Examination currency rule | The examination must reference the current Philadelphia Code or standards, or the application must be submitted within 12 months of passing the examination (City license service page) |
| Fees | City of Philadelphia license fee: $51 annually, with a $20 non-refundable application fee credited toward it (City license service page; the Code text at Section 9-501 prints $50 annually – see the flag in this package’s INTERNAL section). ICC examination fee: $100 for computer-based testing per the ICC bulletin. These are City and vendor fees, not PassProfessor charges |
| Exemptions (Code Section 9-501(1)(b)) | The license is not required for: dwelling houses in exclusive residential use; plant under exclusive federal supervision or used exclusively in interstate commerce; boilers carrying not more than 15 pounds of pressure; boilers over 15 pounds but not exceeding 30 horsepower; and refrigeration systems of not more than 25 tons capacity meeting the Code’s conditions |
This guide was gated at assignment: the slot rested on a secondary source, and the instruction was to hold the program if City primary sources did not confirm a license with an examination. They confirm it three ways – the Philadelphia Code at Section 9-501 creates the license and its grades, the City’s own license service page describes the current application process and names ICC as the examination administrator, and the ICC’s Philadelphia bulletin publishes the four grade examinations. The program is built. Two maintenance flags ride with it: the Code prints a $50 annual license fee where the City’s current page prints $51 (this guide follows the City page for the fee a candidate pays now), and the ICC bulletin on file is dated April 3, 2015, so its counts and fees should be re-verified against the current bulletin before load.
The licensing route, step by step
Step 1 – Choose the grade your plant requires
Match the grade to the charge: Grade D for the fireman’s duties, Grade C for portable and stationary charge, Grade B for refrigeration plant, Grade A for the full steam, stationary, and refrigeration command. Confirm your plant is not inside the Code’s exemptions before assuming a grade is required at all.
Step 2 – Assemble the common gate
Prepare the written application; document at least two years as an assistant engineer or helper through federal tax records; and secure recommendations from two engineers holding Philadelphia engineer licenses. Confirm you are 18 or older. This assembly is the route’s slow part for most candidates – start it before examination study peaks.
Step 3 – Sit the grade examination with ICC
Schedule the examination for your grade through ICC’s computer-based testing: Grade A (314) 80 questions in 3 hours; Grade B (311) 60 in 3 hours; Grade C (335) 70 in 2.5 hours; Grade D (328) 50 in 2.5 hours – all open book, for the bulletin’s $100 CBT examination fee. Keep the examination current: it must reference the current Philadelphia Code or standards, or your application must follow within 12 months of passing.
Step 4 – Apply for the license
File with the Department of Licenses and Inspections, paying the $20 non-refundable application fee, credited toward the license fee. The license fee is $51 annually on the City’s current service page.
Step 5 – Renew annually
The license renews at $51 annually; renewals more than 60 days late accrue 1.5 percent per month for the period of delinquency, per the City’s page.
Section 9-501, read as the license’s constitution
The Code section does four things, and candidates should be able to separate them. It imposes the requirement – no taking charge of or operating a steam boiler or steam engine in the City without the license, above the exemptions. It exempts – dwellings, federal and interstate plant, the 15-pound and 30-horsepower boiler lines, and small refrigeration under stated conditions. It grades – A, B, C, D with their plant scopes. And it qualifies – age, experience, recommendations, examination.
The section’s drafting rewards one more observation: the requirement attaches to taking charge of or operating the plant, which is the broadest formulation in this family of licenses – it reaches the person in charge and the person at the controls alike. Philadelphia compliance conversations should start from that breadth before reaching the exemptions.
The grades as a plant hierarchy
Read downward, the grades describe a boiler room’s organisation. Grade A is the plant’s engineer in full: steam boiler, stationary, and refrigeration – the only grade that unites the steam plant and the refrigeration plant in one authority, which is why its examination is the broadest. Grade B is the refrigeration specialist, examined on the refrigeration cycle’s machinery and its electrical controls. Grade C is the working stationary and portable engineer – the boiler, its fuel and draft, its steam and feedwater. Grade D is the fireman, the grade of the boiler front itself: firing, water, steam, safety.
The hierarchy also describes careers. Philadelphia’s engineers commonly enter at D or C and climb as experience and vouching accumulate; each ascent is a new examination at a broader paper, and the two-recommendation requirement renews at each step, keeping the ladder a community’s ladder as much as an individual’s.
The ICC bulletins: what they publish and their date
The ICC’s Philadelphia bulletin publishes each grade examination’s code, question count, duration, book policy, and content outline, the $100 computer-based testing fee, and ICC’s general position that most Contractor/Trades examinations require 70 percent, subject to a higher agency requirement. It is the only published source for the examinations’ shapes, and this guide builds on it accordingly. It is also dated April 3, 2015, and this guide flags that plainly: the City’s current service page confirms ICC remains the examination administrator, but counts, fees, and outlines should be confirmed against the current bulletin at scheduling. A guide that concealed the date would be asking for trust it has not earned.
Open-book craft, by grade
Open-book technique divides by grade because the papers do. Grade A candidates manage the largest reference burden and the widest field – their craft is triage: answer from knowledge where knowledge serves, and reserve lookups for calculations, tables, and Code provisions, with the book’s geography rehearsed to reflex. Grade B candidates lean on refrigeration references and control diagrams. Grade C candidates work the boiler texts at pace across ten equal areas, where no lookup can be allowed to consume the time an even paper demands everywhere. Grade D candidates face concentration: four areas at twenty percent each reward deep, fast command of operations, feedwater, steam, and safety, with the book as confirmation rather than discovery.
One rule serves all grades: a reference should never be new to you in the examination room. The books permitted are the books to practise with, tabbed within the administrator’s rules and indexed by the candidate’s own hand.
The exemptions as working knowledge
Exemptions are examination material and practice material at once. The 15-pound line and the 30-horsepower line decide real buildings’ compliance every week: the small boiler over 15 pounds but under 30 horsepower sits outside the license requirement; the same boiler at 40 horsepower sits inside it. The refrigeration exemption’s 25-ton figure and its conditions – automatic operation, sealed or safety-controlled charge among them as the Code states them – decide plant rooms across the city. Engineers are asked these questions by owners who will act on the answer, which is why the examinations sample the Code’s boundary and why this guide treats Section 9-501(1)(b) as core text rather than fine print.
Fees: the City’s schedule, stated carefully
The City’s current license service page states a $20 non-refundable application fee, a license fee of $51 annually, renewal at $51 annually, and a 1.5 percent monthly accrual on renewals more than 60 days late. The Code text at Section 9-501 prints $50 annually. This guide prints the City page’s figure for the candidate’s planning because it is the current administrative schedule, and records the Code’s figure here so the record is complete. The ICC examination fee of $100 for computer-based testing comes from the ICC bulletin, is the vendor’s fee, and should be confirmed in the current bulletin. No other fee figures are stated, because no other primary source states them.
Philadelphia among the graded systems
Set beside New Jersey’s seals, Philadelphia’s grades are fewer and broader: four grades against New Jersey’s operator-plus-three structure, with refrigeration united into the top grade rather than classified as a separate equipment line. Set beside New York City, Philadelphia examines open book through a national code body rather than closed book through a city programme – and has no practical examination in its published process. Set beside Chicago, its fellow municipal survivor, Philadelphia is the documented system: grades, outlines, counts, and a code section a candidate can read whole in one sitting. Each design teaches the same lesson differently: the examination is the jurisdiction’s theory of its own plant.
Preparation errors this guide is written to prevent
The first is grade error: preparing for the grade a candidate wants rather than the grade the plant requires, or sitting Grade C material for a Grade A paper. The second is documentation delay: reaching the application with two years of experience and no tax records to prove them. The third is recommendation delay: the two licensed engineers’ recommendations are not a formality to collect in the final week. The fourth is open-book complacency, arriving with unrehearsed references. The fifth is currency error: letting a passed examination age past the twelve-month application rule while paperwork waits.
Grade B’s refrigeration world, in the depth its outline sets
Grade B is the only Philadelphia grade whose examination leaves the boiler room, and its outline repays the same close reading the boiler grades get. Electrical controls carry the largest single weight at twenty percent – the refrigeration plant examined first as a controlled electrical system. Theory, terminology, and general requirements follow at fifteen percent, then a run of ten-percent areas that map the refrigeration plant whole: compressors; evaporators, condensers, and cooling towers; piping inspection and field testing; air ducts and insulation; refrigerants; maintenance and repairs; and operation procedures at five percent.
The weighting tells the refrigeration candidate where the grade’s centre sits: controls and theory together are thirty-five percent of the paper, so a candidate whose strength is hands-on compressor work alone is preparing for a minority of the sitting. It also marks Grade B’s place in the Code’s design – refrigeration in Philadelphia is not an endorsement on a boiler license but a licensed specialism with its own grade, its own paper, and its own centre of gravity, united with the steam grades only at Grade A, where the two worlds are examined together.
The Department’s satisfaction: how the Philadelphia gate is judged
Section 9-501(2)(b) frames licensure as the Department being satisfied: satisfied the applicant is of full age, satisfied the applicant holds the two years of assistant engineer or helper experience, on a written application, with recommendations from two Philadelphia-licensed engineers, and an examination passed for the grade. The formulation matters because it places the evidentiary burden in one direction – the applicant satisfies the Department – and the City’s current process gives that burden its modern shape: experience documented through federal tax records, the application filed through the Department of Licenses and Inspections’ current channels, and the examination taken with ICC.
Candidates should read their own file the way the Department will: two years that are real but untraceable in tax records are, at this gate, weaker than two years fully documented; recommendations from engineers whose own Philadelphia licenses are current speak louder than names alone; and the twelve-month examination currency rule means the sequence should run documentation first, examination second, application immediately after. The gate is not hostile – it is documentary, and documentary gates reward candidates who build the file before they need it.
Grade C and the portable plant
Grade C – portable and stationary engineer – is Philadelphia’s working grade, and its portable half deserves the attention its examination gives the whole boiler room. Portable plant is the steam of temporary duty: construction heat, plant outages covered by rented boilers, emergency service, and process work away from a permanent boiler room. The portable engineer accepts plant on documentation and inspection rather than on history, commissions it in compressed time, and operates it under conditions – temporary piping, temporary fuel arrangements, unfamiliar buildings – that the stationary engineer meets rarely.
The Grade C examination’s even ten-area spread matches that working breadth: operation and safety, fuel and draft, steam systems, water treatment, calculations, fittings, hydronic and feedwater systems, controls, and design, each at ten percent, because the portable and stationary engineer must be adequate everywhere rather than deep somewhere. Candidates for Grade C should prepare as the outline instructs – evenly – and should count portable duties in their experience honestly, because the grade’s name promises an employer both fields.
Staying licensed: the annual renewal and the cost of lateness
Philadelphia’s license runs on an annual cycle, and the City’s service page prices its discipline precisely: renewal at $51 a year, with renewals more than 60 days late accruing 1.5 percent per month for the period of delinquency. The figures are small; the structure is the lesson. An annually renewed license keeps the Department’s register of working engineers current – the City knows, each year, who holds its grades – and the late accrual converts renewal from a deadline that can slip quietly into one that prices its own delay.
For the working engineer, the habit to build is calendar-level: the renewal belongs with the plant’s annual inspection rhythm, not in a drawer. For the candidate, the renewal terms complete the route’s honest cost picture – examination fee, application fee, the annual license, and renewal each year thereafter – which is the budgeting this guide has tried to keep in primary-source figures throughout. An engineer whose license lapses deep into delinquency should take the Department’s current position on reinstatement directly from Licenses and Inspections rather than assume the accrual is the only consequence; the City page prices lateness, and any further consequence is the Department’s to state.
A note on the bulletin’s date, once more
Because the ICC bulletin on file is dated 2015, this guide repeats its caution in closing: confirm the current examination codes, counts, fees, and outlines with ICC when scheduling, and treat the City’s service page as the authority for the license process itself. The Code’s grades and requirements – the substance of the license – do not depend on the bulletin’s age at all; only the sitting’s logistics do, and logistics are exactly what a current bulletin is for.
A preparation plan by grade
Grade D: master the four twenty-percent areas until they reproduce at pace, then the fittings and water-treatment tail. Grade C: build evenly across the ten areas, with calculations practised to time. Grade B: centre the refrigeration cycle and its controls, with piping and field testing as the second weight. Grade A: build the whole plant – steam, stationary, refrigeration, electrical, environmental – and practise triage across the longest paper. All grades: read Section 9-501 until the exemptions and requirements are quotable, rehearse the references as examination instruments, and assemble the application file in parallel with study, not after it.
The companion PassProfessor program page describes the preparation program itself, which is in the works; this guide stands alone as the route reference for the Philadelphia Engineer License.
Frequently asked questions
What is the license’s official name?
The Philadelphia Code at Section 9-501 establishes the engineer license issued by the Department of Licenses and Inspections; the City’s service page titles it ‘Engineer License’. ‘Stationary engineer’ is the common trade name and this program’s working name.
Grade D says ‘fireman’ – is that current?
The Code’s text at Section 9-501(2) classifies Grade D as fireman, and the Code controls. The grade covers the boiler-front duties – firing, water, steam, safety – that its examination’s weighting reflects.
Why does the Code print $50 where the City page prints $51?
The Code’s fee text at Section 9-501 states $50 annually; the City’s current license service page states $51 annually with the $20 application fee credited toward it. Candidates pay the current administrative schedule; the divergence is recorded in this guide and in the package’s INTERNAL section.
How old is the ICC bulletin this guide relies on?
The ICC Philadelphia Contractor/Trades bulletin on file was published April 3, 2015. The City’s current service page confirms ICC remains the administrator; candidates should confirm counts, fees, and outlines against the current bulletin at scheduling.
Does Grade A really include refrigeration?
Yes. Section 9-501(2) classifies Grade A as steam boiler, stationary and refrigeration engineer – the only grade uniting all three – and its examination outline includes refrigeration and cooling towers among its areas.
Can experience as a helper count if I was paid informally?
The City’s process documents experience through federal tax records. Experience that cannot be documented that way may not satisfy the Department; candidates in that position should raise it with the Department of Licenses and Inspections before relying on it.
Is there a practical examination in Philadelphia?
The published process – Code, City service page, and ICC bulletin – describes written, computer-based grade examinations. No practical component is published in those sources.
What dominates the Grade D examination?
Four areas at 20 percent each: boiler operations, the feedwater system, the steam system, and boiler operation safety – 80 percent of the paper – with boiler fittings at 10 percent, water treatment at 6 percent, and the draft system at 4 percent, per the ICC bulletin.
What happens if I renew late?
Per the City’s service page, a renewal more than 60 days late accrues 1.5 percent per month for the period the license was delinquent, on top of the $51 annual renewal.
Where do this guide’s facts come from?
From Section 9-501 of the Philadelphia Code, the City of Philadelphia’s Engineer License service page, and the ICC Philadelphia examination bulletin, recorded in this file’s INTERNAL section – including the gate record showing the slot’s primary confirmation was obtained in this build.