Boilermakers

Overview

Boilermakers has a national median salary of $76,410 per year, with -1.8% projected job growth from 2025–2035. The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical education needed to enter this occupation.

Description

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.

Work Values

• Support
• Relationships
• Independence

Work Styles

Responsibilities

Tasks

• Conduct pressure tests on vessels, such as boilers.
• Study blueprints to determine locations, relationships, or dimensions of parts.
• Assemble large vessels in an on-site fabrication shop prior to installation to ensure proper fit.
• Examine boilers, pressure vessels, tanks, or vats to locate defects, such as leaks, weak spots, or defective sections, so that they can be repaired.
• Inspect assembled vessels or individual components, such as tubes, fittings, valves, controls, or auxiliary mechanisms, to locate any defects.

Work Activities

• Repairing and Maintaining Mechanical Equipment
• Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials
• Getting Information
• Making Decisions and Solving Problems
• Operating Vehicles, Mechanized Devices, or Equipment
• Performing General Physical Activities
• Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events
• Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge
• Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates
• Handling and Moving Objects

Detailed Work Activities

• Servicing, repairing, adjusting, and testing machines, devices, moving parts, and equipment that operate primarily on the basis of mechanical (not electronic) principles.
• Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials to identify the cause of errors or other problems or defects.
• Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
• Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
• Running, maneuvering, navigating, or driving vehicles or mechanized equipment, such as forklifts, passenger vehicles, aircraft, or watercraft.
• Performing general physical activities includes doing activities that require considerable use of your arms and legs and moving your whole body, such as climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling materials.
• Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
• Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job.
• Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
• Using hands and arms in handling, installing, positioning, and moving materials, and manipulating things.

T-A-S-K

Technology, Abilities, Skills & Knowledge

Education

Education Levels of Current Workers

The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical education needed to enter this occupation. The chart below shows the highest level of education held by people already working in this field, ages 25 and older. It includes workers who earned more education than the job requires and workers who entered the field under earlier requirements, so the largest bar is not the entry requirement. For example, if someone finished an associate's degree and then started working in this field, they are counted under “Associate's degree” here, but the job itself typically asks for a high school diploma or equivalent.

Certificates

Certifications applicable to Boilermakers:

Video Resources