Back to Jobs

Job Description

Overview

The Pipefitter position is located in the Department of Veterans Affairs at the Salem VA Medical Center, focusing on the installation, maintenance, and repair of high temperature water and high-pressure piping systems.

Responsibilities

  • Installs, modifies, repairs, and maintains high temperature water and high pressure piping systems.
  • Installs and repairs steam generators, vacuum, air, water, and condensate pumps, radiators, and valves.
  • Sets up system routes, cuts openings, installs regulating devices, and places hangers.
  • Determines and installs risers, flexible branches, expansion joints, pumps, gauges, and pressure regulators.
  • Reads and interprets blueprints, layout sketches, and manufacturers' specifications.
  • Replaces sections of pipe and repairs steam traps and control valves.
  • Cuts, threads, and connects pipes using various methods.
  • Tests systems for proper operation, circulation, flow, pressure, and leak-free joints.
  • Traces and troubleshoots pipelines and equipment to locate and repair leaks.
  • Performs safety and preventive maintenance inspections.
  • Installs, troubleshoots, repairs, and modifies plumbing systems and fixtures.
  • Performs other related duties as assigned.

Additional Information

  • Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 7:45am - 4:30pm, with ability to work weekends and holidays.
  • Position Description Title/PD#: Pipefitter/PD07892A
Apply for This Position

How this job compares in Salem, VA

Pay in context

At roughly $29/hr, this posting comes in about 35% below the $45/hr median for pipefitter jobs across Virginia, where the middle half runs $35–$51/hr across 9 postings with published pay. Put another way, it pays more than about 0% of the comparable postings we have wage data for. That gap is worth raising directly — in a market this size there is normally room to negotiate toward the median, particularly if you already hold the certifications the posting asks for.

The local market in Salem, VA

Salem, VA is a small market in our index: 2 other active welding openings alongside this one, from 1 employer. Across Virginia as a whole we're tracking 134 other active welding openings from 72 employers. With this few local postings, most welders here end up either commuting or looking at travel work. Browse welding jobs across Virginia.

Veterans Health Administration currently has 2 other openings live in Virginia, which is usually a sign of either steady growth or steady turnover — worth asking which in the interview.

The most active employers in Virginia at the moment, by number of open welding reqs, are Innovative Refrigeration Systems, Inc. (14), Atlantic Constructors, Inc. (11), and Newport News Shipbuilding, A Division of HII (8). Volume like that usually means either a genuine expansion or a staffing agency working several client sites — worth knowing which before you apply.

Within Virginia, the best-paying metros we track by median hourly rate are Newport News at $41/hr, Norfolk at $32/hr, and Chesapeake at $27/hr. If you can relocate or commute, that spread is worth factoring in.

Similar openings near Salem, VA

Pay figures are medians computed from live postings in the Welding Pros index, not from survey data, and they move as employers post. Pipefitter figures were last recalculated when this page was built.