VerifiedA boilermaker fabricates and repairs pressure vessels, boilers, tanks and heavy steel structures. The work is plate and section rather than machined parts, and it is done where those things are: power stations, refineries, smelters, mines, sugar mills and food plants.
It is the trade most often confused with welding. A welder joins metal. A boilermaker reads the drawing, marks out and shapes the plate, builds the assembly and welds it, and is judged on whether the finished vessel holds pressure.
Where the trade sits
Boilermaking falls under the merSETA metal and engineering chamber. merSETA covers about 40 000 companies, of which roughly 14 600 pay the skills levy, employing some 600 000 workers, so the apprenticeship money in this trade is substantial.
Where the work is at a mine, the Mining Qualifications Authority funds it instead, and the MQA takes applications from students directly rather than only through employers.
Certification beyond the trade test
The trade certificate makes you a boilermaker. It does not by itself let you sign off a pressure vessel. The Southern African Institute of Welding certifies Competent Persons for pressure vessels and steam generators, and runs the non-destructive testing and welding inspector qualifications that boilermakers move into later in a career.
Most boilermakers also carry coded welding qualifications for the processes and positions they work in. See our welding bursaries page for that route.
Bursaries that fund boilermaking
- Mining Qualifications Authority (MQA)
- merSETA
- Gibela, the rail manufacturer at Dunnottar
- Jindal Africa
- Westfalia Fruit, which funds trades for its packhouses
- Cyril Ramaphosa Education Trust
- Thebe Foundation Dr EJ Mabuza Scholarship
- Bridgestone
- Department of Correctional Services
- Eastern Cape Department of Education
- North West Provincial Government
Municipal schemes fund trades for residents: City of Cape Town, Cape Winelands District Municipality, Ndwedwe Local Municipality.
Read the artisan bursaries page before you apply anywhere. In this trade the apprenticeship contract matters more than the bursary, because the employer, not the college, decides whether you reach a trade test.
See also our welding bursaries, fitter and turner bursaries and engineering bursaries pages.