Nature of the Work Large buildings require a considerable amount of equipment to provide heating, air-conditioning, and ventilation. Industrial plants often have facilities to provide electrical power, steam, or other services as well. Stationary engineers operate and maintain this equipment, which can include boilers, air-conditioning and refrigeration equipment, diesel engines, turbines, generators, pumps, condensers, and compressors. These workers are called stationary engineers because the equipment they operate is similar to equipment operated by locomotive or marine engineers except it is not in a vehicle that moves.
Stationary engineers start up, regulate, and shut down equipment.
They insure it operates safely and economically and within established limits by monitoring attached meters, gauges, and other instruments, and increasingly, computerized controls. They manually control equipment, and if necessary, make adjustments. They use hand and power tools to perform repairs and maintenance ranging from a complete overhaul to replacing defective valves, gaskets, or bearings. They also record relevant events and facts concerning operation and maintenance in an equipment log. On steam boilers, for example, they observe, control, and record steam pressure, temperature, water level, power output, and fuel consumption.