How to become Boilermaker in 2024

Boilermaker Construct, assemble, maintain, and repair stationary steam boilers and boiler house auxiliaries. Align structures or plate sections to assemble boiler frame tanks or vats, following blueprints. Work involves use of hand and power tools, plumb bobs, levels, wedges, dogs, or turnbuckles. Assist in testing assembled vessels. Direct cleaning of boilers and boiler furnaces. Inspect and repair boiler fittings, such as safety valves, regulators, automatic-control mechanisms, water columns, and auxiliary machines.

Boilermaker is Also Know as

In different settings, Boilermaker is titled as

  • Boiler Maker
  • Boiler Mechanic
  • Boiler Repairman
  • Boiler Service Technician
  • Boiler Technician
  • Boilermaker
  • Boilermaker Mechanic
  • Boilermaker Pipe Fitter
  • Boilermaker Welder
  • Service Technician

Education and Training of Boilermaker

Boilermaker is categorized in Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Boilermaker

Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

Education Required for Boilermaker

Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Degrees Related to Boilermaker

Training Required for Boilermaker

Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Boilermaker in different industries are

What Do Boilermaker do?

  • Examine boilers, pressure vessels, tanks, or vats to locate defects, such as leaks, weak spots, or defective sections, so that they can be repaired.
  • Bolt or arc weld pressure vessel structures and parts together, using wrenches or welding equipment.
  • Inspect assembled vessels or individual components, such as tubes, fittings, valves, controls, or auxiliary mechanisms, to locate any defects.
  • Repair or replace defective pressure vessel parts, such as safety valves or regulators, using torches, jacks, caulking hammers, power saws, threading dies, welding equipment, or metalworking machinery.
  • Attach rigging and signal crane or hoist operators to lift heavy frame and plate sections or other parts into place.
  • Bell, bead with power hammers, or weld pressure vessel tube ends to ensure leakproof joints.
  • Lay out plate, sheet steel, or other heavy metal and locate and mark bending and cutting lines, using protractors, compasses, and drawing instruments or templates.
  • Install manholes, handholes, taps, tubes, valves, gauges, or feedwater connections in drums of water tube boilers, using hand tools.
  • Study blueprints to determine locations, relationships, or dimensions of parts.
  • Straighten or reshape bent pressure vessel plates or structure parts, using hammers, jacks, or torches.
  • Shape seams, joints, or irregular edges of pressure vessel sections or structural parts to attain specified fit of parts, using cutting torches, hammers, files, or metalworking machines.
  • Position, align, and secure structural parts or related assemblies to boiler frames, tanks, or vats of pressure vessels, following blueprints.
  • Locate and mark reference points for columns or plates on boiler foundations, following blueprints and using straightedges, squares, transits, or measuring instruments.
  • Shape or fabricate parts, such as stacks, uptakes, or chutes, to adapt pressure vessels, heat exchangers, or piping to premises, using heavy-metalworking machines such as brakes, rolls, or drill presses.
  • Clean pressure vessel equipment, using scrapers, wire brushes, and cleaning solvents.
  • Install refractory bricks or other heat-resistant materials in fireboxes of pressure vessels.
  • Assemble large vessels in an on-site fabrication shop prior to installation to ensure proper fit.

Qualities of Good Boilermaker

  • Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
  • Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
  • Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
  • Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

Tools Used by Boilermaker

  • Acetylene torches
  • Adjustable crescent wrenches
  • Adjustable pipe wrenches
  • Air carbon arc cutting equipment
  • Air compressors
  • Air grinders
  • Air hammers
  • Air manifolds
  • Air scalers
  • Allen wrenches
  • Atmospheric monitoring devices
  • Atmospheric testing equipment
  • Ball peen hammers
  • Bar clamps
  • Beam clamps
  • Beam trolleys
  • Bench lathes
  • Bench vises
  • Beveling machines
  • Blacksmiths' punches
  • Block and tackle equipment
  • Bolt cutters
  • Box end wrenches
  • Brakes
  • Buffing tools
  • Bull pins
  • C clamps
  • Calipers
  • Carbon dioxide CO2 meters
  • Catalyst dispensers
  • Caulking guns
  • Center punches
  • Chain falls
  • Chain hoists
  • Chain pulleys
  • Chain wrenches
  • Chalk lines
  • Channel lock pliers
  • Chipping hammers
  • Circular saws
  • Claw hammers
  • Clear lenses
  • Combination squares
  • Combination wrenches
  • Compasses
  • Computer-controlled welding equipment
  • Contour markers
  • Cutoff saws
  • Cutting torches
  • Desktop computers
  • Digital lasers
  • Digital levels
  • Dividers
  • Drift pins
  • Drill point gauges
  • Drill presses
  • Dust masks
  • Ear plugs
  • Electrode holders
  • Electrode ovens
  • End cutting pliers
  • Engineers' levels
  • Filtered lenses
  • Fire extinguishers
  • Fire retardant coveralls
  • Flaring tools
  • Flashback arrestors
  • Forklifts
  • Framing squares
  • Friction lighters
  • Full body harnesses
  • Full-face respirators
  • Ground clamps
  • Hacksaws
  • Half-face respirators
  • Hammer wrenches
  • Hand saws
  • Hard hats
  • Heat lamps
  • Hydraulic boom trucks
  • Hydraulic cranes
  • Hydraulic jacks
  • Hydraulic stub pullers
  • Hydrostatic testers
  • Inspection mirrors
  • Jig saws
  • Ladders
  • Laser levels
  • Lead hammers
  • Leather protective clothing
  • Longnose pliers
  • Measuring tapes
  • Metal inert gas MIG welders
  • Metal-cutting chisels
  • Metal-cutting snips
  • Micrometers
  • Milling machines
  • Needle pressure gauges
  • Nibblers
  • Non-sparking hammers
  • Open end wrenches
  • Overhead hoists
  • Oxygen concentration meters
  • Oxygen lances
  • Personal computers
  • Pin punches
  • Pipe and tubing cutters
  • Pipe vises
  • Plasma arc welding equipment
  • Plate clamps
  • Plumb bobs
  • Pneumatic drills
  • Pneumatic hoists
  • Pneumatic impact wrenches
  • Portable welding machines
  • Power grinders
  • Power saws
  • Pre-heating torches
  • Protective gloves
  • Protractors
  • Pry bars
  • Punch presses
  • Putty knives
  • Reciprocating saws
  • Resin spray guns
  • Respiratory protection equipment
  • Safety glasses
  • Safety goggles
  • Sandblasters
  • Scaffolding
  • Scale rules
  • Scissor lifts
  • Screw jacks
  • Screwdrivers
  • Scribers
  • Self-contained breathing apparatus
  • Serrating tools
  • Shackles
  • Shears
  • Shielded arc welding tools
  • Side cutting pliers
  • Single-cut mill saw files
  • Sledgehammers
  • Sliding t-bevels
  • Slings
  • Slip joint pliers
  • Socket wrench sets
  • Soft face hammers
  • Spirit levels
  • Splitting chisels
  • Spreader beams
  • Spud wrenches
  • Squares
  • Staging equipment
  • Steamboat ratchet jacks
  • Stick electrodes
  • Straightedges
  • Strap wrenches
  • Swing stages
  • Swivel hoist rings
  • Tap sets
  • Telescoping gauges
  • Telescoping lifts
  • Temperature sticks
  • Torque wrenches
  • Trammel points
  • Transit levels
  • Tube drifts
  • Tube end facers
  • Tube milling machines
  • Tube pullers
  • Tube wall reducing tools
  • Tungsten inert gas TIG welding equipment
  • Two way radios
  • Utility hoists
  • Utility knives
  • Ventilation fans
  • Vernier calipers
  • Vise grip pliers
  • Water levels
  • Wedges
  • Welding adaptors
  • Welding distribution panels
  • Welding oxygen regulators
  • Welding shields
  • Welding tip cleaning files
  • Welding tips
  • Wire brushes
  • Wire rope pullers
  • Workshop cranes
  • X ray inspection equipment

Technology Skills required for Boilermaker

  • Autodesk AutoCAD
  • Computer aided design CAD software
  • Health and safety training software
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft Windows
  • Microsoft Word
  • SAP software