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Boilermakers

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.
Job tasks
  • • 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.
Abilities
Verbal Abilities
  • • Oral Comprehension
  • • Written Comprehension
  • • Oral Expression
  • • Written Expression
Idea Generation and Reasoning Abilities
  • • Problem Sensitivity
  • • Deductive Reasoning
  • • Inductive Reasoning
  • • Information Ordering
  • • Category Flexibility
Perceptual Abilities
  • • Flexibility of Closure
  • • Perceptual Speed
Spatial Abilities
  • • Visualization
Attentiveness
  • • Selective Attention
Fine Manipulative Abilities
  • • Arm-Hand Steadiness
  • • Manual Dexterity
  • • Finger Dexterity
Control Movement Abilities
  • • Control Precision
  • • Multilimb Coordination
Reaction Time and Speed Abilities
  • • Reaction Time
Physical Strength Abilities
  • • Static Strength
  • • Trunk Strength
Flexibility, Balance, and Coordination
  • • Extent Flexibility
Visual Abilities
  • • Near Vision
  • • Far Vision
Auditory and Speech Abilities
  • • Auditory Attention
  • • Speech Recognition
  • • Speech Clarity
Skills
Content
  • • Reading Comprehension
  • • Active Listening
Process
  • • Critical Thinking
  • • Active Learning
  • • Monitoring
Complex Problem Solving Skills
  • • Complex Problem Solving
Technical Skills
  • • Equipment Selection
  • • Operations Monitoring
  • • Operation and Control
  • • Equipment Maintenance
  • • Troubleshooting
  • • Repairing
  • • Quality Control Analysis
Systems Skills
  • • Judgment and Decision Making
Resource Management Skills
  • • Time Management
Knowledge
Business and Management
  • • Customer and Personal Service
Manufacturing and Production
  • • Production and Processing
Engineering and Technology
  • • Engineering and Technology
  • • Design
  • • Building and Construction
  • • Mechanical
Mathematics and Science
  • • Mathematics
Interview options
Interviewee gender
Interviewee accent
Interview time
Source
Tasks & skills: O*NET occupational data (work activities, skills, knowledge). Learn more
Sources & Standards: This site includes information from O*NET by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Career Clutch has modified some of this information for student readability. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Last reviewed: Jan 2026
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