Boilermakers

About the job

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.

What you'll do

• Assemble large vessels in an on-site fabrication shop prior to installation to ensure proper fit.
• Clean pressure vessel equipment, using scrapers, wire brushes, and cleaning solvents.
• Install manholes, handholes, taps, tubes, valves, gauges, or feedwater connections in drums of water tube boilers, using hand tools.
• Install refractory bricks or other heat-resistant materials in fireboxes of pressure vessels.
• Locate and mark reference points for columns or plates on boiler foundations, following blueprints and using straightedges, squares, transits, or measuring instruments.
• Position, align, and secure structural parts or related assemblies to boiler frames, tanks, or vats of pressure vessels, following blueprints.
• 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.
• 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.
• Straighten or reshape bent pressure vessel plates or structure parts, using hammers, jacks, or torches.
• Study blueprints to determine locations, relationships, or dimensions of parts.

Things you need to know

• Mechanical – Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
• Building and Construction – Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
• Customer and Personal Service – Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Mathematics – Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• Engineering and Technology – Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.

Abilities you'll need to have

• Operation Monitoring – Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
• Critical Thinking – Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Quality Control Analysis – Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
• Operation and Control – Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
• Active Listening – Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Equipment Maintenance – Performing routine maintenance on equipment and determining when and what kind of maintenance is needed.
• Troubleshooting – Determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.