Boilermaker advice

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Hello I am new to this site and I am looking for some advice from any boilermakers out there.  My son is 16 years old and is starting his Junior year of High School, he wants to become a boilermaker.  What is the best way for him to start to become one.  What certifications will he need to get and how much schooling after high school should he do. Our high school has terminated there welding program so he will not be able to get any formal training until he graduates High School.   We live in a small town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan so we are not around any major cities to go and do any apprentice work right away. Is it better to go to a larger school like ITT or is starting at a community college with a welding certification a good start.  Any advice would be great.
Reply:I guess he is too young for whiskey with a beer chaser :-) (a boilermaker in case that wasn't funny)Get him welding.   I started with an AC buzzbox (not that I'm a trained boilermaker now.)  Find scrap pipe since welding in a circle hard.  Do projects.I made a wood fired boiler that heated my house with that welder.Perhaps he is ahead already and has done lots of metal working already.  It is surprising to hear of a young man who knows what he wants to do.  Lanse on this site is another young man who does a great job learning and doing projects.  I imagine he could be an inspiration to your boy since he just graduated high school.  I hope Lanse makes it to the Hobart welding school for the full 9 months.Miller Syncrowave 180SDLincoln WeldPak 100 with gasHandheld Milwaukee BandsawO/A Cutting Torch
Reply:I have a marquette mig welder that he has been using for the last 2 years, helping me with working on small stuff like exhaust pipe and building shelves.  I have no formal training I am self taught and I am far from an expert welder.  So for now we are just winging it.  But he loves doing it and would love to do it for a career.  If not a boilermaker even doing something else in welding.  So if there are any good ideas of a career that he could go into that would be good advice for him too.  Thanks
Reply:Any welding certs will give him preference points to get into the apprenticeship. Dot, asme, aws. We boiler makers weld tube. Welding straight is the easy parts, welding radius takes time to learn. We heliarc the root typically and flush and cap with 7018-10018  depends on tube composition etc.  Some welds are made with 6010 root and xx18 flush and caP, but not many , I depends really. Any questions you can pm me. I'm a boilermaker out of Albany ny local 197Miller bobcat 225g  - spoolmatic 1Mm250 - 30a spoolMiller spectrum 375Thermal arc 95 Everlast Ex 250As the boiler turns, these are the days of our lives
Reply:Yes. He needs to learn to tig weld and stick weld tube. learning to weld pipe will help as well.JasonLincoln Idealarc 250 stick/tigThermal Dynamics Cutmaster 52Miller Bobcat 250Torchmate CNC tableThermal Arc Hefty 2Ironworkers Local 720
Reply:im a apprentice boilermaker i left school at 16 , (started my apprenticeship while i was 15 ) . just buy him a bit pile of scrap steel and let him learn from his mistakes . get work experance in a faberication shop (not being payed) . go on welding tips and tricks.com and watch every vid over and over again. practice what he has learnt on scrap.
Reply:Originally Posted by FMX_22im a apprentice boilermaker i left school at 16 , (started my apprenticeship while i was 15 ) . just buy him a bit pile of scrap steel and let him learn from his mistakes . get work experance in a faberication shop (not being payed) . go on welding tips and tricks.com and watch every vid over and over again. practice what he has learnt on scrap.
Reply:tell him not to . Im a boilermaker and do to the lack of work I had to start my own business . But Boiler making is the best paying part time job out there. First of all make sure he finish's school. The union will not take him with out a H/S diploma. Non union boiler makers do not weld they do all the rigging and lay outs,grinding,and bolt turning. If he wants to go non union he needs to be a combo tube welder. If he wants to go union every one is called a boilermaker some weld some dont. The union should teach him to weld . the union side of things have a different way we weld tubes. We stick and tig, non union only tigs. It would be best if he can do both any way.
Reply:thanks for all the advice. I got alot of information from you guys and it has helped alot.  Now I just have to keep my son on the right road.  I seen someone said about the pipefitter or steamfitter.  Is that a good route to go also?  Also it a boilermaker layed off seasonal or is it just when there is no work?
Reply:This is a delayed reply .... I wanted to ponder a few of the things you said..... I have a few questions from the perspective of a retired Steamfitter / welder.I've worked with hundreds of boilermakers on different powerhouses. The only one's, at 17 years old, who knew they would be Boilermakers were the grandsons of old boilermakers who had become the Business Manager for the local. My question is this --"What has your son heard about the trade of "BOILERMAKER" and who did he hear it from? Something had to have perked his interest.Being a Boilermaker is a tough profession. The majority of the time they are inside of giant structures (HRSG) that really don't look like a conventional boiler like you see in the local school house. The work is dirty from the soot, dust, rust, etc. The space is "confining". Actually the little skinny guy fares better than the big guys. The welds are 100% X-ray. A couple of repairs and your down the road. The rigging (chokers, come-alongs, etc) is heavy and hard to handle and usually placed while up on scaffold. The "confined space" permits and safety requirements are stringent. One hole in a cutting torch hose, inside a boiler, spells disaster.If you can get into a Union trade at a young age, go through an apprenticeship program, work safe and take care of your body....... You can retire with a good pension. If you get married and divorced a couple of times along the way...... You may end up with 50% of a pension.Remember this ..... When your out on the cold, dangerous, tiring job and your wife is sitting in the nice warm, comfortable fifthwheel........ Half of that Pension money your putting away is hers.So, hopefully this will give your son a few things to consider.I wish him luck at his profession...Thanks,HoboLincoln SA200's... at least 15 - 20. They come and go. Growing partial to the "Short Hoods" in my old age. Last count on Short Hoods was 13 in possession.
Reply:HoboWell I will try to anwser your questions best that I can.  There is no Boilermakers in my family at all, and there are a few in the town that I live in.  One of them is a retired Boilermaker, I am not sure how many years he worked.  But his is one of my son's, friend's grandfather.  My son goes over to his house all the time and they are always working on something or welding something.  That is were my son got the bug to be a welder.  Since then he loves to weld, he will try to weld anything.  Sometimes I have caught him welding some metal that I had for something else.  Right now he is about 5 foot 8 and about 135 pound, I think he will continue to be a skinny guy for quite awhile so that can help with the confined spaces.  And as far as the dirty part goes, trust me that will not bother him.  I am always yelling at him to go was up, or that he ruined another pair of pants.  He loves to work on stuff and loves to get dirty.  I really wanted him to go in the Air Force.  That is what I did when I got out of school and I thought that it would be a great choice for him too.  At first he thought it would be a great idea, but in the last few months he has been pulling away from that idea and wanted to go the welding or automotive route.  I told him no that he was going in the military and that was it.  Well my wife talked to me and said that I can not tell him what to do with his life he has to decide on his own, other wise he will go in the military and hate it and blame me for it.  So now I am backing off on the military thing and want to get as much information about welding jobs that I can for him so that if this is the route he wants to take I want him to be prepared and ready for what will come. Hopefully the being married and divorced thing will not happen to him, but if it does such is life.  Well I hoped this helps, and if you have any other advice that I can give him please let me know and thanks again
Reply:He should go into the air force for four years and go for a welding /fabricating job and when he gets out look up your closest boilermakers local and they will take him most certainly. They have a program called helmets to hardhats. That is the easiest way in the Boilermakers. I know as I'm a Boilermaker myself.
Reply:Well..... There are lots of pluses (+) and minuses (-) in this equation. Obviously those around him have planted a lot of "seeds" in the opportunities available to him. The "seed" that seems to have taken off is the one the old Boilermaker planted. As an old retired Pipefitter, I too make attempts to direct certain young people towards a job in the Trades. With the young people of today..... it's few and far between the one's I direct. The old Boilermaker "sees" something in your son. If he didn't he wouldn't waste his time with him.... Sorry, just how the old Fitters, Iron Workers and Boilermakers are...When it comes to "welding" there are two groups... Group #1 - These guys are the "naturals". They can take the worst machine, the worst fit, the worst helper, the worst welding rods, etc and make the weld look like it was done with an orbital welder. Group #2 - This is where I fell.... I had to work at it. I had to bring my "bag of tricks" (wedges, special file, rod holder, cups / collets, tungsten). When I was between jobs, I'd have to go "keep my hand in it" in the weld booth. I was successful but it was work.Perhaps your son has that "natural" talent. If it's his choice to be a Boilermaker... he will work harder than ever to make it be successful.You should be proud of your son and thankful for the old Boilermaker who see's something in him.... It's a win / win situation.Thanks,HoboLincoln SA200's... at least 15 - 20. They come and go. Growing partial to the "Short Hoods" in my old age. Last count on Short Hoods was 13 in possession.
Reply:I stumbled on this post through a random Google search and joined this sight just to respond. I have been Boilermaking a very long time and it is a hard and honest living and there are many very good member tradesmen.Be aware this union is a nonprofit political organization before you can call it a craft or trade but it is indeed a craft. Apprenticing from off the street you can eventually earn 100k+ but your success will depend on how much butt you kiss and keeping your nose clean no different than corporate America. In other words, the politics on all levels is incredible and your place will pretty much be predetermined.Feel free to poo poo what am saying as I want you to be free to make up your own mind.  If you are thinking of joining the Boilermakers first download a copy of the Boilermakers Constitution available somewhere at boilermakers.org and read the entire thing and then completely understand it before coming to any conclusions good or bad. Best of luck to you.
Reply:I'm a multi-trade craftsman (pipefitter/boilermaker/ironworker) in an oil refinery. We don't roll tubes or some other common boiler work, but we do exchangers, furnace work, and lots of steam work. The contractor boilermakers do mostly exchanger and furnace work. We don't have the politics that welderoo mentioned. When we hire, former military get  preferential treatment. I'm sure it's also pretty common in the outside trades. Some of my military veteran apernticeship classmates got paid extra in their apprenticeship through the GI bill. My thoughts are he may be well served by military service and finding a job in the energy industry working for a energy company as an employee not as a contractor. We hire lots of former contractors who are weary from life on the road. We also hire some who were getting screwed by politics.
Reply:So what Gus_Mahn can help you see there is politics even where a union is not involved. The Boilermakers gives preference to hiring veterans too and all the benefits from Helmets to Hard Hats. Every job has politics with or without a union. What matters is how much the politics affects your happiness and  lively hood. Sometimes being a veteran in any job you will come out ahead and sometimes you won't.Yes, Boilermakers do lots and lots of welding but welding is only a tool and a only a small part of what a boilermaker needs to know.  The very best boilermakers learn to work smart and not hard. That doesn't mean they are lazy, it means they learn and plan their work ahead, go home safe and as clean as possible. When you can do that, you are a real boilermaker.