Power Engineering · 4th Class, Part B (4B)
4th Class Power Engineering Practice Test: Part B (4B).
Five practice questions from five different units of Part B of the SOPEEC 4th Class syllabus, answers included: three calculations and two on running the plant. Pick an answer, then open the explanation. Every question in the bank explains all four options, not just the right one.
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A condensate pump at a university central plant shows 150 kPa (gauge) on its suction gauge and 1 250 kPa (gauge) on its discharge gauge, both at the same height on pipes of the same size. The condensate density is 990 kg/m³ and atmospheric pressure is 101.3 kPa. What total head is the pump developing?
- 113 m
- 124 m
- 129 m
- 144 m
Show the answer
A. Correct. Head is the pressure the pump adds, divided by ρg: Δp = 1 250 − 150 = 1 100 kPa = 1 100 000 Pa; H = 1 100 000 ÷ (990 × 9.81) = 113 m. Both readings are gauge, so atmospheric pressure cancels and is not needed.
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During the annual pop test of a safety valve set at 1 200 kPa on a pulp-mill power boiler, the valve popped at 1 200 kPa, the pressure rose to 1 236 kPa while it discharged, and it reseated at 1 128 kPa. All readings are gauge. What is the valve's blowdown, as a percentage of its set pressure?
- 3.0 %
- 6.0 %
- 6.4 %
- 9.0 %
Show the answer
B. Correct. Blowdown = set pressure − reseating pressure = 1 200 kPa − 1 128 kPa = 72 kPa. As a percentage of set pressure: 72 ÷ 1 200 × 100 = 6.0 %. Too little blowdown lets a valve reseat and lift again repeatedly; too much wastes steam and drops the boiler pressure further than needed.
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On rounds at an apartment complex's steam plant, an operator finds no water in a boiler's gauge glass; the glass, just blown through, shows only steam. The burner is still firing, and the low-water cut-off has not tripped. What is the first action?
- Shut off the fuel to the burner
- Start the standby feed pump to refill it quickly
- Open the bottom blowoff to find the true level
- Lift the safety valve to bring the pressure down
Show the answer
A. Correct. With the water below the glass, heating surfaces may be uncovered and overheating; stopping the fire is the one action that cannot make it worse. Feedwater is not added to a boiler whose level is out of sight, since cold water on red-hot metal can crack it or flash violently. The boiler cools slowly, then is inspected.
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A brewery's boiler makes 12 000 kg/h of steam. Its feedwater is 70 % returned condensate, taken as free of dissolved solids, and 30 % make-up at 450 mg/L. The boiler water is held at 3 000 mg/L. Neglecting solids in the steam, what continuous blowdown is needed, to the nearest 10 kg/h?
- 540 kg/h
- 570 kg/h
- 1 800 kg/h
- 2 120 kg/h
Show the answer
B. Correct. Feedwater solids = 0.30 × 450 = 135 mg/L. Blowdown ÷ feed = 135 ÷ 3 000 = 0.045. With feed = steam + blowdown, feed = 12 000 ÷ (1 − 0.045) = 12 565 kg/h, so blowdown = 0.045 × 12 565 = 565 kg/h, about 570 kg/h.
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A hospital's low-pressure centrifugal chiller runs with its evaporator below atmospheric pressure. Before searching it with an electronic leak detector, the plant's procedure raises the machine's pressure above atmospheric. Why?
- Warming the machine first stops moisture condensing on the detector's probe
- A strength test at a higher pressure must be passed before any leak search
- At a vacuum the refrigerant is all vapour, which the detector cannot sense
- No refrigerant escapes from a leak in a machine under vacuum
Show the answer
D. Correct. Where the inside is below atmospheric pressure, the flow through a leak is inward, so no refrigerant comes out for a detector held outside to find. Raising the internal pressure above atmospheric, by the method the plant's procedure sets out, reverses the flow so refrigerant escapes at the leak and can be traced.
Want ten more with every option explained? Free 4th Class Power Engineering practice questions (4B) — no account, no email, printable.
The 4th Class Power Engineering exam, Part B, at a glance
How many questions are on the 4th Class Power Engineering 4B exam?
The 4th Class Power Engineer certificate exam is two papers, A and B, and each is passed on its own at 65 percent: the marks are not averaged. Paper B (4B) covers operating the plant: lubrication, pumps and compressors, boiler safety devices, boiler operation and maintenance, water treatment, turbines and engines, building systems, refrigeration, HVAC and heating systems. Paper A (4A) covers the theory, codes, safety and the boiler itself. Paper B is written to Part B of the SOPEEC reference syllabus, twelve units and 52 objectives, which Alberta's ABSA prints as units B1 to B12 in AB-54 and which TSSA in Ontario, where the certificate is called 4th Class Power (Operating) Engineer, adopts unchanged. SOPEEC's 4B sample questions give 3.0 hours for 100 multiple-choice questions, 1.8 minutes a question, with four options, A to D. ABSA gives 100 questions and three hours for all 4th Class papers from 1 January 2023, Technical Safety BC (exam 4B1) from 1 March 2023, and TSASK and the current TSSA guide give the same format, with 65 percent to pass.
None of SOPEEC, ABSA, Technical Safety BC, TSASK or TSSA publishes how many questions come from each unit. 4B carries less arithmetic than 4A, but it is not calculation-free: our bank works pump head and power, safety-valve blowdown, rigging loads, softener runs and boiler blowdown, condensers and cooling towers, lighting levels, refrigeration capacity, humidity and fan pressures, and heating loads. The Handbook of Formulae and Physical Constants, steam tables and refrigeration tables are normally provided at the sitting, and SOPEEC's sample questions advise leaving the calculation questions for later.
The full 4th Class Power Engineering practice exam
Know your real 4B score before exam day.
550 practice questions for Part B of the 4th Class exam, mapped to all 52 SOPEEC objectives across units B1 to B12, with the reason for every step and every calculation worked in the explanation. Timed 100-question mock exams in the exam's three hours, so you can see how you do on a full 100-question paper in the real time limit.
Writing both papers? All-Access covers 4A and 4B for $89, with all sixteen Red Seal trades included.
What the 4B paper covers
Twelve units, 52 objectives.
Part B of the SOPEEC syllabus has twelve units, B1 to B12, and 52 objectives, numbered 1 to 52. None of SOPEEC, ABSA, Technical Safety BC, TSASK or TSSA publishes a per-unit question count, so our 550-question bank covers every objective, and the counts below are what is in our bank, not on the exam. Each unit links to five free questions on it.
- B1
Lubrication · 26 in our bank
The purposes of a lubricant, classes of lubricants, oil properties and additives, boundary and full-film lubrication, sleeve, rolling and thrust bearings, cleaning and replacing bearings, and the causes of bearing failure. Free unit B1 questions: lubrication and bearings →
- B2
Pumps and Compressors · 51 in our bank
Pump types and performance terms, packing and mechanical seals, alignment, priming and starting centrifugal and positive-displacement pumps, compressor types, valves and seals, capacity control and routine maintenance. Free unit B2 questions: pumps and compressors →
- B3
Boiler Safety Devices · 61 in our bank
Pressure relief valves on power and heating boilers and pressure vessels, T&P valves, burner management and flame safeguards, low-water fuel cut-offs and water level indicators, required boiler fittings, and operating and safety controls on boilers and fuel trains. Free unit B3 questions: boiler safety devices →
- B4
Plant (Boiler) Operations · 72 in our bank
Starting auxiliaries, warming a cold boiler, starting and cutting in hot-water and steam boilers, routine duties, emergencies and troubleshooting, shift checks, SOPs and logs, shutdown and lay-up, water hammer, and equipment failures. Free unit B4 questions: boiler plant operations →
- B5
Power Plant/Heating Plant Maintenance · 44 in our bank
Hand tools and measuring and layout tools, ladders, scaffolds, rigging and hoisting, fasteners, servicing firetube and cast-iron boilers, leaking and replaced firetubes, preparing a boiler for inspection, and mechanical and chemical cleaning. Free unit B5 questions: plant maintenance and inspection →
- B6
Water Treatment · 61 in our bank
Raw-water impurities, filtration, softening and deaeration, internal boiler-water treatment, chemical feed and tests, condensate treatment, cooling tower and condenser water, closed chilled-water circuits, and heating and glycol systems. Free unit B6 questions: boiler and cooling water treatment →
- B7
Prime Movers and Engines · 44 in our bank
Heat engines and prime movers, steam turbines, their glands, governing and start-up, condensers and cooling towers, gas turbines and their cycles, and spark-ignition and diesel engines. Free unit B7 questions: turbines, engines and cooling towers →
- B8
Auxiliary Building Systems · 22 in our bank
Lighting equipment, sources, controls and emergency lighting, cold and hot water supply, water heaters and protective devices, backflow prevention, and sanitary and storm drainage. Free unit B8 questions: lighting, water supply and drainage →
- B9
Refrigeration · 61 in our bank
The vapour-compression cycle, refrigerants and their hazards, direct and indirect systems, compressors, evaporators and condensers, controls and safety cut-outs, leak testing, charging and purging, and ammonia and lithium bromide absorption systems. Free unit B9 questions: refrigeration →
- B10
Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning · 48 in our bank
Conditioning air for comfort, humidity, dew point and wet-bulb temperature, humidifiers, air flow and fans, ventilation and filters, duct systems and diffusers, and heating and cooling coils. Free unit B10 questions: HVAC and air handling →
- B11
Heating and Cooling Systems · 50 in our bank
Steam and hot-water heating systems and their accessories, warm-air, infrared and electric heating, unitary, central and combined HVAC systems, heat gains, losses and recovery, and HVAC control strategies. Free unit B11 questions: heating and cooling systems →
- B12
Types of Plants · 10 in our bank
Steam-related processes in the plants that employ power engineers: heat-transfer-fluid systems, refineries, SAGD and cyclic steam, gas plants, wood and biomass, food processing and metallurgical plants. Free unit B12 questions: steam in industrial plants →
Where our questions come from
Every question, anchored to the syllabus.
Every question in our 4B bank is written to one objective of Part B of the SOPEEC 4th Class reference syllabus and checked in a separate, blind verification pass in which every number is recomputed: pump heads, valve blowdowns, sling loads, blowdown and bleed-off rates, refrigeration capacities and heating loads. Refrigerant properties, psychrometric values and other figures beyond the basic constants are given in the question, so you are not working from a table you do not have. Legislation differs by province, so questions on acts and regulations either stick to what every jurisdiction shares or name the province in the question. Nothing is copied from textbooks, from CSA or ASME code text, or from recalled exam questions. For format by province, what each unit covers and what you can bring into the room, read the 4th Class Power Engineering exam guide (4B). Read how our questions are made.
Last reviewed against the SOPEEC syllabus and the ABSA, Technical Safety BC, TSASK and TSSA exam information.
Why practice scores mislead
You can know the devices and still miss the 4B operating questions.
Knowing what a low-water cut-off is does not tell you where it must act against the lowest permissible water level, or what to do first when the gauge glass shows no water and the burner is still firing. Knowing that a safety valve pops does not give you its blowdown until you take the reseating pressure from the set pressure and divide by the set pressure. Much of 4B is the order of steps and the reason for each one: which valve opens first, what must be proven before the burner fires, what a log reading is telling you. Our explanations give the reason behind every step, and our mock exams put 100 questions in front of you in three hours, so you find out whether you can work through a full paper in time, not just whether you recognise the words.
How TicketPrep prepares you
Built like a study tool, not a quiz app.
All 52 objectives
Every objective of Part B of the SOPEEC syllabus has questions, across all twelve units, with Standard and Advanced levels.
Every answer explained
Why the right answer is right, and why each of the other three is wrong, with the calculation or the operating reason worked through.
Timed mock exams
100 questions drawn from all twelve units in a three-hour timer, the format ABSA, Technical Safety BC, TSASK and TSSA give for 4B.
Know your weak units
Your score broken out by unit, B1 to B12, against the 65 percent pass mark, so you know which unit to drill next.
4th Class Power Engineering exam questions
Before you start.
How many questions are on the 4th Class Power Engineering exam, Part B?
What can you bring into the 4th Class exam?
Is the 4B practice exam free?
Is the 4B exam the same in every province?
What is the difference between 4A and 4B?
Are these real 4th Class exam questions?
How is TicketPrep different from other 4th Class question banks?
Find out where you actually stand.
Five free questions, no account needed. See how you did as you go, then enter your email to unlock every explanation. About five minutes.
Then Exam Pass is $69 one-time for 120 days of access — not a subscription — with a 7-day money-back guarantee. Don't pass? You get 120 more days free. Writing both papers? All-Access covers 4A and 4B for $89.
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