HVAC Facts about Titanic

TitanicToday marks the 103 Anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Though more than 1,500 passengers and crew perished in that horrible tragedy, all I can think about is Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet yelling about being on top of the world! (I blame James Cameron.) So to add to the inappropriately upbeat Titanic associations of the day, I will share with you an article I saw a year ago about the Titanic, written by and for HVAC nerds, like myself.

HVAC Take On HMS Titanic Anniversary

(Reprint of article from last year’s MCAA newsletter)

April 15th marked the anniversary of the tragic sinking of the HMS Titanic. We found some interesting “Titanic” facts that will peak the interest of the Mechanical Contractor.

29 steam boilers were installed in the Titanic to create the massive volume of steam required to move the ship. 24 boilers were double-ended and 5 were single-ended. A total of 162 furnaces had to be stoked with coal by 200 workers by shovel. Approximately 600 tons of coal per day were required to maintain a speed of 22 knots. The boilers also provided steam to generate electricity through dynamos that powered the steering motor. Working pressure for the boilers was 215 psi.

Titanic Boilers

The pic above shows some of Titanic’s 24 double-ended Scotch Class boilers at Harland & Wolff Shipyard in Belfast-Ireland. Pretty massive, eh? Can you imagine the weight of those babies? Or what it’d be like in that room with all 29 boilers all fired up to go full steam?

There’s actually a pretty “steamy” boiler room scene between Kate and Leo that got edited out in the final cut of the Titanic movie. You can see here on YouTube…for the cool boilers, of course, not for the kissy-face! It’s the closest thing to HVAC porn. Enjoy HVAC nerds!