A stationary engineer (also called an operating engineer, power engineer or process operator) is a technically trained professional who operates, troubleshoots and oversees industrial machinery and equipment that provide and utilize energy in various forms. The title "power engineer" has different meanings in the United States and in Canada. Stationary engineers are responsible for the safe operation and maintenance of a wide range of equipment including boilers, steam turbines, gas turbines, gas compressors, generators, motors, air conditioning systems, heat exchangers,

heat recovery steam generator A heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) is a heat exchanger that recovers heat from a hot gas stream, such as a combustion turbine or other waste gas stream. It produces steam that can be used in a process (cogeneration) or used to drive a steam ...

s (HRSGs) that may be directly fired (duct burners) or indirectly fired (gas turbine exhaust heat collectors), hot water generators, and

refrigeration Refrigeration is any of various types of cooling of a space, substance, or system to lower and/or maintain its temperature below the ambient one (while the removed heat is ejected to a place of higher temperature).IIR International Dictionary of ...

machinery in addition to its associated auxiliary equipment (

air compressor An air compressor is a machine that takes ambient air from the surroundings and discharges it at a higher pressure. It is an application of a gas compressor and a Pneumatics, pneumatic device that energy conversion, converts mechanical power (from ...

s, natural gas compressors,

electrical Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

switchgear In an electric power system, a switchgear is composed of electrical disconnect switches, fuses or circuit breakers used to control, protect and isolate electrical equipment. Switchgear is used both to de-energize equipment to allow work to ...

pump A pump is a device that moves fluids (liquids or gases), or sometimes Slurry, slurries, by mechanical action, typically converted from electrical energy into hydraulic or pneumatic energy. Mechanical pumps serve in a wide range of application ...

s, etc.). Stationary engineers are trained in many areas, including mechanical, thermal, chemical, electrical, metallurgy, instrumentation, and a wide range of safety skills. They typically work in

factories A factory, manufacturing plant or production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. Th ...

, office buildings,

hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the rural–urban fringe, out ...

s, power generation plants, industrial facilities, and residential and commercial buildings. The use of the title "stationary engineer" predates other engineering designations and is not to be confused with

professional engineer A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and ski ...

, a title typically given to design engineers in their given field. The job of today's engineer has been greatly changed by computers and automation as well as the replacement of steam engines on ships and trains. Workers have adapted to the challenges of the changing job market. Today, stationary engineers are required to be significantly more involved with the technical aspect of the job, as many plants and buildings are updated with increasingly more automated systems of

control valve A control valve is a valve used to control fluid flow by varying the size of the flow passage as directed by a signal from a controller. This enables the direct control of flow rate and the consequential control of process quantities such as pres ...

s and

distributed control system A distributed control system (DCS) is a computerized control system for a process or plant usually with many control loops, in which autonomous controllers are distributed throughout the system, but there is no central operator supervisory contro ...

History

The profession of stationary engineering emerged during the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

with the development of steam-powered pumps by

Thomas Savery Thomas Savery (; c. 1650 – 15 May 1715) was an English inventor and engineer. He invented the first commercially used steam-powered device, a steam pump which is often referred to as the "Savery engine". Savery's steam pump was a revolutiona ...

and

Thomas Newcomen Thomas Newcomen (; February 1664 – 5 August 1729) was an English inventor, creator of the Newcomen atmospheric engine, atmospheric engine in 1712, Baptist lay preacher, preacher by calling and ironmonger by trade. He was born in Dart ...

which were used to draw water from mines, and the industrial

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...

s perfected by

James Watt James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was f ...

. Railroad engineers operated early

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

s and continue to operate trains today, as well as marine engineers, who operated the boilers on

steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...

s. The certification and classification of stationary engineers was developed in order to reduce incidents of boiler explosions in the late 19th century. Notable individuals who worked as stationary engineers include

George Stephenson George Stephenson (9 June 1781 – 12 August 1848) was an English civil engineer and Mechanical engineering, mechanical engineer during the Industrial Revolution. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", Stephenson was considered by the Victoria ...

, William Faulkner, and

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American Technological and industrial history of the United States, industrialist and business magnate. As the founder of the Ford Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making automob ...

Regulation

United States

In the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

power engineers are governed solely by their individual states, or by their specific municipalities. Several States, such as

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

have opted to align with Canada's guidelines regarding power engineering education, but this is not common. In the United States, stationary engineers must be

license A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another part ...

d in several cities and

states State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

. The

New York City Department of Buildings The New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) is the department of the New York City government that enforces the city's building codes and zoning regulations, issues building permits, licenses, registers and disciplines certain construction ...

requires a Stationary Engineer's License to practice in the City of New York; to obtain the license one must pass a written and practical exam and have at least five years' experience working directly under a licensed stationary engineer, or one year if in possession of a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

. Holders of the Stationary Engineer's License primarily work in large

power generation Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy. For utilities in the electric power industry, it is the stage prior to its delivery ( transmission, distribution, etc.) to end users or its stora ...

facilities, such as

cogeneration Cogeneration or combined heat and power (CHP) is the use of a heat engine or power station to generate electricity and useful heat at the same time. Cogeneration is a more efficient use of fuel or heat, because otherwise- wasted heat from elec ...

power plants, peaking units, and large

central heating A central heating system provides warmth to a number of spaces within a building from one main source of heat. A central heating system has a Furnace (central heating), furnace that converts fuel or electricity to heat through processes. The he ...

and refrigeration plants (CHRPs). For the State of California, Stationary Engineers are the State of California Military Department's sole source of Airfield Lighting and Repair.

Canada

In Canada, power engineers are regulated by their respective jurisdictions, named below. Each province has a safety authority that is granted power through "enabling acts" and overseen by the Canadian Standards Association. Examinations and licensing in all 10 provinces and three territories are regulated by the Standardization of Power Engineers Examinations Committee (SOPEEC) who receives recommendations by the Interprovincial Power Engineering Curriculum Committee (IPECC).

Jurisdictional authorities

Alberta Boilers Safety Association (ABSA)

Technical Safety British Columbia (TSBC)
* Office of The Fire Commissioner * Government of New Brunswick
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador
* Northwest Territories * Nova Scotia * Nunavut
Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA)
* Government of Prince Edward Island * Régie du bâtiment du Québec and Emploi-Québec (RBQ, EQ)
Technical Safety Authority of Saskatchewan
* Yukon

External links

The International Union of Operating Engineers

* ttp://www.asope.org The American Society of Power Engineersbr>The National Institute for the Uniform Licensing of Power EngineersNational Institute of Power EngineersStandardization of Power Engineer Examinations Committee

References

{{Reflist Power engineering