The boiler license programs our research verified are state and city ones, with different names and scopes: some license the person who operates boilers — boiler operator and boiler engineer licenses — while others cover the installation and repair side, and some fold boilers into a broader mechanical license.
Whether you need one depends on where you work and which side of the trade you're on.
Boiler installer licenses
Installation and repair get licensed too, and the programs that cover them draw the lines in three different ways: some carve boilers out of the HVAC license, some build them into it, and some give boiler work a class of its own.
Oregon gives boiler installation and repair a dedicated license.
The Building Codes Division's Class 3 Service Mechanic license covers installing or repairing boilers — including boiler and non-boiler external piping — and unfired pressure vessels by a non-welded method of attachment.
It requires 2,000 hours of experience and 24 hours of continuing education per renewal.
Oregon's neighboring Class 5B Refrigeration Piping Mechanic license covers ASME B31.5 refrigeration piping, with 2,000 hours of welding or brazing plus 2,000 hours of pressure piping experience.
Georgia is the carve-out example.
A Conditioned Air Contractor Class II license is unrestricted as to project size and equipment type — except boiler installation, which is licensed separately, under the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire.
The carve-out means boiler installation is not part of the Class II scope; a different office owns that work.
Florida builds boilers in.
Its Class A air-conditioning contractor license is unlimited in scope, and the statute's definition includes boilers and unfired pressure vessels alongside central air conditioning, refrigeration, heating, ventilating and duct work.
Nevada makes boiler work a subclass.
Boiler work is subclass C-1a in the state's C-1 subclassification list — a family that also includes fire sprinklers, pipe and duct insulation, plumbing, sheet metal, heating/cooling/circulating air, gas piping and vents, water heaters, chilled-water piping, firefighter breathing-air systems and industrial piping.
New Mexico folds boilers into its mechanical classes.
MM-4 (Heating, cooling and process piping) covers hydronic, steam, chilled water and process piping, boilers and chillers, and the MM-98 Mechanical license combines MM-1 through MM-4 plus the MS-3, MS-6, MS-12 and MS-14 classifications.
New Mexico's Construction Industries Division took up amendments to these rules at an April 2026 hearing, so confirm the current NMAC text with the division before you apply.
Where boiler work sits inside a mechanical license family, the class names get confusing fast — our mechanical license HVAC guide decodes the license names.
Permits are a separate layer from licenses.
Minnesota's Department of Labor and Industry licenses boiler engineers and operators and, separately, requires installation permits for some boilers — a reminder that installing a boiler and operating one are regulated independently.
The class definition decides, not the word 'boiler'
Boiler operator and stationary engineer licenses
Boiler operator, boiler engineer, stationary engineer and high pressure boiler operating engineer are the license names our research verified.
New York City's Stationary High Pressure Boiler Operating Engineers are, in the city's words, "licensed to operate high pressure boilers in New York City."
Minnesota's Department of Labor and Industry licenses boiler engineers and operators for low- and high-pressure boilers, in grades that run Special; 2nd class (2-C, 2-B and 2-A); 1st class (1-C, 1-B and 1-A); and Chief (Ch-C, Ch-B and Ch-A).
A 2nd class license needs 1 year of boiler experience, 1st class needs 3 years and Chief needs 5 years.
Exams pass at 70%, with a 30-day wait after a failed attempt.
The fee table — last updated September 2023 — shows a $50 application that includes the exam at every grade, and a two-year license fee of $20 for Special, $40 for 2nd and 1st class, and $80 for Chief.
New York City licenses Stationary and Portable High Pressure Boiler Operating Engineers through the Department of Buildings.
Each license costs $50, renews for $45 and runs a 3-year term.
The exam is the bigger line item: the city's written license exams (LIC41) cost $585 and its practical exams (LIC42) cost $530 — fees that cover the High Pressure Boiler Operating Engineer license alongside the master plumber, master fire suppression piping contractor, oil burner installer and gas work qualifications.
New Mexico's journeyman bulletin on PSI, the exam vendor, lists Journeyman Boiler Operator exams BO1 and BO2 (2023 bulletin), which reference Low Pressure Boilers, High Pressure Boilers and the New Mexico Boiler Rules and Regulations (NMAC 14.9.4).
Omaha's licensing list includes stationary engineers in 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades, each by exam, alongside oil burner installers, oil and LPG tank installers, and master and journeyman steamfitters — our source names the licenses and grades without describing what each one covers.
The stationary engineer title overlaps with boiler technician work without being the same job — the boiler technician vs stationary engineer comparison walks through where the line falls.
Every fee and grade here is a dated snapshot
Which states and cities require them
The boiler license programs our research verified are state and city ones — Minnesota, New York City, Oregon, New Mexico, Montana, Alaska, Georgia, Nevada, Florida and Omaha among them — and they differ in both name and scope: some license operators, some installers, some both.
Two states show how boiler regulation can exist where HVAC licensing does not.
Montana has no statewide HVAC or mechanical worker license — the Department of Labor and Industry's list of 41 boards and licensing programs includes a Boiler Operator program but no HVAC, mechanical or refrigeration license.
Alaska likewise issues no statewide HVAC or refrigeration certificate; its Mechanical Inspection section issues certificates of fitness for electrical, plumbing, boiler (four classes), asbestos, hazardous paint and explosive-handler trades.
New York City shows the city layer operating inside the license system.
The Department of Buildings' skilled-trade license list runs from electrician and rigger to master plumber and sign hanger — and includes the High Pressure Boiler Operating Engineer license.
There is no general "HVAC" license on the list: boiler work carries its own license name.
| Place | Verified program | Side of the trade |
|---|---|---|
| Minnesota (Dept. of Labor and Industry) | Boiler engineer and operator licenses, Special through Chief | Operator — plus installation permits for some boilers |
| New York City (Dept. of Buildings) | Stationary and Portable High Pressure Boiler Operating Engineer | Operator |
| New Mexico | Journeyman Boiler Operator exams (BO1, BO2); MM-4 / MM-98 mechanical classes | Both |
| Oregon (Building Codes Division) | Class 3 Service Mechanic | Installer (and repairer) |
| Georgia | Boiler installation under the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire | Installer — carved out of the Conditioned Air Contractor Class II scope |
| Florida | Class A air-conditioning contractor | Installer — boilers inside the air-conditioning contractor scope |
| Nevada | C-1a Boilers subclass | Contractor subclass for boiler work |
| Montana (Dept. of Labor and Industry) | Boiler Operator program | Operator — no statewide HVAC license exists |
| Alaska (Mechanical Inspection) | Boiler certificates of fitness (four classes) | Certificate layer — no statewide HVAC certificate exists |
| Omaha | Stationary engineers, 1st–3rd grade, by exam | City license — scope not described in our source |
This table lists the programs the research verified — it is not a complete national inventory.
For states and cities not named here, we have no verified program to point to either way: the authority to ask is your state's licensing agency, or the city or county building department where licensing is local.
If boiler work is the goal, current boiler technician jobs are on the job board, and our boiler technician career guide covers the role behind the licenses.
This page is career information, not legal advice. Boiler licensing rules are set by state agencies and, where licensing is local, by city and county offices — confirm the current requirements with the authority for where you work before you act on anything above.
Related certifications
Boiler credentials stack with the credentials for the rest of the plant.
New York City shows the stacking again.
Applicants for the FDNY's Q-01 Certificate of Fitness — a refrigeration operating engineer credential — need a high school diploma or GED, EPA Universal Technician Certification, and one of several qualifying routes: a NYC High Pressure Boiler Operating Engineer license, a USCG marine engineer license or a PE license — or a 200-hour FDNY-certified Refrigeration Operating Engineer course with at least 25 hours of field or shop work, or 1 year of qualifying practical experience within the preceding 3 years.
Read that list as the layers combining: a city boiler operator license is one route into a refrigeration operating credential, with the EPA Universal Technician Certification required alongside it.
If you're aiming at plants that run boilers and chillers together, plan for requirements on both sides — the operator or installer license where your state or city has one, plus the refrigerant and piping credentials the rest of the equipment needs.
Adjacent equipment carries adjacent licenses.
In Oregon, refrigeration piping has its own Class 5B Refrigeration Piping Mechanic license — ASME B31.5 refrigeration piping, 2,000 hours of welding or brazing plus 2,000 hours of pressure piping.
In Omaha, oil burner installers and oil and LPG tank installers hold their own licenses, separate from the stationary engineer grades.