Description
Install, troubleshoot, calibrate, and maintain control systems and instrumentation, including sensors, actuators, valves, regulators, meters, PLCs, and HMIs, to ensure safe, accurate, and reliable operation.
- • Energize or de-energize control circuits and equipment to start up or secure service.
- • Adjust control valves and regulators to achieve specified pressure, flow, or temperature setpoints.
- • Report hazardous field conditions, control failures, and missing or damaged devices.
- • Record calibration data, setpoints, and readings in CMMS or mobile tools.
- • Connect instruments to calibrators or test stands and adjust until readings meet specifications.
- • Disassemble, repair, and rebuild control devices, valves, and actuators using hand and power tools.
- • Document maintenance, test results, parts used, and corrective actions.
- • Remove or isolate defective or unauthorized control equipment following lockout/tagout procedures.
- • Lubricate bearings, linkages, and moving control components.
- • Pressure- and leak-test valves, regulators, and pneumatic lines using precision equipment.
- • Install and commission sensors, transmitters, regulators, and related control hardware.
- • Shut down affected systems and notify operations when major repairs or outages are required.
- • Inspect control assemblies for wear, corrosion, misalignment, or loose fasteners, and tag defects.
- • Perform pneumatic integrity tests with air sources and gauges to detect losses.
- • Overhaul meters and instruments and replace gears, seals, and mechanisms as required.
- • Advise customers or operations staff on proper installation, placement, and use of control equipment.
- • Set up and operate calibration equipment; zero and span instruments.
- • Adjust linkages, cams, and set screws to align control responses to specifications.
- • Replace defective components such as diaphragms, springs, switches, and sensors; reassemble per drawings.
- • Investigate tampering or bypassing of control or metering devices.
- • Install, inspect, and test electrical control components such as relays, power supplies, and signal wiring.
- • Trace, label, and tag control circuits, I/O points, and field devices.
- • Mount and wire panels, instruments, VFDs, PLC I/O, and breakers using electricians' tools.
- • Vary supply pressures and command signals to evaluate valve and actuator performance.
- • Measure tolerances and clearances of parts using micrometers, calipers, and gauges.
- • Repair leaks in valve seats, diaphragms, and fittings using approved methods.
- • Clean enclosures and internal components using appropriate solvents and methods.
- • Repair and replace metering and control components, including transformers, relays, and wiring.
- • Machine or rework parts as needed; tap ports and fit new orifices per specifications.
- • Splice, terminate, and test control and instrumentation cables to panels and junction boxes.
- • Remove corrosion, debris, and coatings from housings and panels by brushing or blasting.
- • Calibrate and verify instrumentation for pressure, temperature, flow, level, and position.
- • Configure control loops, PID settings, and device parameters using HMIs or software tools.
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Tasks & skills:
O*NET occupational data (work activities, skills, knowledge).
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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
