CCQ (EN) — Refrigeration mechanic

CCQ Refrigeration Mechanic — Qualification Exam Preparation. Lessons, flashcards and a bank of practice questions to prepare for the Commission de la construction du Québec exam, based on the information sheet currently in force: 60 questions, 3 hours, closed book.

1. The CCQ qualification exam for the refrigeration mechanic trade

The refrigeration mechanic installs, starts up, maintains and repairs air-conditioning and refrigeration systems. The trade's qualification exam is administered by the Commission de la construction du Québec. This preparation follows the information sheet currently in force: its three sections, their weighting and its documentation rules.

2. Exam format: what to expect

• Question type: multiple choice
• Number: 60 questions, 1 point each
• Length: 3 hours
• Pass mark: 60%
• Documentation: closed book — no reference document
• Materials provided: pencil, ruler, calculator, blank sheet, eraser

Three hours for 60 questions is three minutes per question on average, with no pressure-temperature chart and no code to consult. What matters is knowing which rule applies to the situation described, and reasoning about a circuit: a pressure, a temperature, a cause.

3. Documentation: nothing in the room, everything in your head

The exam is closed book: no document is handed out. The documents the answers rest on must therefore be known from memory:

• The CSA B52:23, Mechanical refrigeration code — safety groups, machinery rooms, piping, tests, evacuation, safety devices, maintenance
• The Regulation respecting halocarbons (CQLR c Q-2, r 29) — recovery, leak tests, registers, global warming potential, labour force environmental qualification attestation
• The refrigeration textbooks listed as recommended reading — the trade, the cycle, diagnosis

4. The three sections and their actual weight

• Installing air-conditioning and refrigeration systems — 35%: drawings and machinery rooms, bases and supports, piping and oil return, brazing under nitrogen, expansion devices and accessories, regulating valves, walk-in coolers and freezer warehouses.
• Starting up air-conditioning and refrigeration systems — 35%: leak test and evacuation, charging according to the expansion device, pre-start checks, start-up and final settings.
• Maintaining and repairing air-conditioning and refrigeration systems — 30%: preventive maintenance, methodical diagnosis, warehouse scenarios, conversion to another refrigerant, repairs and compressor burnout.

The refrigeration cycle, the P-h diagram, the pressure-temperature relationship, refrigerants, electricity, safety and instruments serve all three sections: the preparation lays them down first, then returns to them where they are needed.

5. What a refrigeration mechanic must be able to tell apart

A few mechanisms the preparation insists on, because they turn on a fine distinction rather than on general knowledge:

• Gauge or absolute pressure? A gauge reads gauge pressure; a P-T chart must be read with the pressure it states. With R-404A, 350 kPa on the gauge gives a saturation of about −8.6 °C; read as an absolute pressure, it would give about −15.9 °C, and the calculated superheat would be off by several degrees.
• Dew point or bubble point? For a zeotropic blend such as R-407C, superheat is calculated from the dew point temperature and subcooling from the bubble point temperature: at the same pressure, the two differ by several degrees.
• The charge is not checked the same way everywhere. With a thermostatic expansion valve and no receiver, subcooling is what tells you, since the valve holds the superheat; with a receiver, the liquid there is close to saturation and you look at the level and the sight glass, per the manufacturer; with a capillary tube, the charge is critical: by weight, then the manufacturer's target superheat.
• Air is not a test gas. The Code prohibits any mixture with more than 20% oxygen for pressure-testing a circuit (CSA B52:23, cl. 5.10.2.1); air contains about 21%. You test with dry nitrogen, then evacuate to no more than 500 µm Hg before introducing refrigerant (cl. 8.4.4 b)) — and a decay test gives an indication, not a verdict.
• Converting is not always allowed. Under the Regulation respecting halocarbons (s. 21.2), a commercial refrigeration unit covered by that section may not be modified to run on a halocarbon with a global warming potential above 1,500: a cooler on R-407C cannot move to R-404A (3922). After a leak repair on a unit covered by section 22, another leak test is done between the 30th and the 60th day.

6. Preparation strategy

Practise without documents. Since nothing will be open on exam day, nothing is open during practice. The quizzes can be retaken as often as needed, and the questions are drawn at random from one attempt to the next.

One section at a time, then the whole. One quiz per section, then a 60-question global quiz weighted like the exam.

Calculate on your sheet. Superheat, subcooling, converting a gauge pressure to an absolute pressure: the questions give the table values; what remains is knowing what to do with them. The flashcards help you fix the values and rules that will be on no sheet.

7. Why Prof-RBQ.ca

Every question in the bank is anchored on a document we consulted, and its explanation names the clause and the document the answer comes from. The clauses of the Code were checked on the pages of the document, and the thermodynamic values were calculated with a reference library, never copied from memory.

Our sources and their editions. Our questions were developed from the following editions: CSA B52:23, Mechanical refrigeration code (13th edition, 2023, English version, including Update No. 1, April 2025), and the Regulation respecting halocarbons (CQLR c Q-2, r 29), consolidated version up to date as of 1 June 2026, consulted in October 2026. The CSA standard is not free; obtaining it is the user's responsibility. The edition referred to at the exam may differ from these.

We have never seen the CCQ question bank: the preparation covers the material described in the official information sheet; it does not predict the exam questions.

Frequently asked questions