I am planning on attending a maritime academy in the US this Fall, and have been planning on going engine. I like problem-solving, fixing things, and have the mind of an engineer.
One thing that has been on my mind recently has been the heat of the engine room environment. I’ve read that the ER can get to 100F+ pretty regularly. Is this the norm in American waters? I think I could handle working in 80-95F temps but 100F+ for 8-12 hours per day sounds absolutely brutal.
How much hotter is the ER than the outdoor temp typically, and are there any geographies in American waters that are regularly below 100F in the ER?
There is an lot of ventilation air moving through an engine room from supply and exhaust fans. It has been my experience that an engine room below 90 degrees can feel too cool. When it gets up over 110 degrees or so is when it starts to feel warm.
My first assignment was a ship in Houston, 117 in the ER. But, I’ve also worked in Alaska in winter and we shut down ventilation fans because they’d blow on water pipes and freeze them. Even had snow coming down the idled fan trunks.
Generally it’s hot and you’ll be sweating through your clothes most of your day. Nothing like sweaty through coveralls 45mins after you woke up. But you’ll also be taking breaks and cooling down in the control room and stuff. I drink at least 6-8 bottles of water a day not including meal times. Being hot and dirty is a weird point of pride for some of us down in the hole and we share looks of disdain when seeing the deckies and their still pristine “work clothes.” Haha.
In my experience on larger vessels the ER temp is going to be around 5-10 degrees F above the OAT depending on where in the ER you are. On smaller vessels it will be higher due to the reduced height of the ER. I was briefly on an anchor handler [smaller vessel] and the thermometer was at about 115F the entire time but it was a crap vessel with marginal ventilation [engines would start puking black smoke if vent fan went down]. On larger vessels it depends on where on the planet the vessel operates. That being said it’s a good job and you obtain knowledge that transfers over to shore based jobs should you ever desire. Being the lifeline of a sea going city has its rewards.
Weighing engine room temperature while considering a career at sea is a kin considering the effects of sea sickness. Both are legitimate quality of life considerations that most become accustomed to, mitigate or so bad for a few they give up & walk away. I’ve heard more mariners seriously complain about seasickness compared to engine room temperatures.
Some engine rooms are better designed than others. On large modern DP3 construction vessels, walking the multiple enginerooms can be pleasant. Other older enginerooms aren’t so great. Some only suck in certain areas of the engine room. Sailing through the tropics suck no matter what. Near the equator your air conditioning evaporator coils can make more drain water than your potable watermaker can produce. There’s a lot of options right now & mariners can pretty much work where they want on nearly any type of vessel they choose. I wouldn’t worry about engine room temperature too much. Very few people complain about it unless they’re in the tropics then everyone complains about it. You’re probably no stronger or weaker than the average, you’ll be okay.
I rather work on an LNG Tanker compared to a bitumen. -160C can be just as deadly as 63C but at least I would be comfortable before death suddenly occured.
I think you’re putting too much thought into how hot it is going to be in the ER. Yes, it can be very hot, it can be very cold too. But, generally it’s gonna be hot and humid. That’s just a fact of working inside a bunch of metal boxes with big, loud, hot things in them.
You learn to just deal with it. If you can’t, you go elsewhere. I’ve never had anyone tell me I had to stay in the heat without a break. Heat can kill and most companies realize that. Every ship I’ve been on has cases and cases of water to drink for us, we take breaks when needed, and for those times the shit hits the fan and we have to keep working the Chief or 1st usually has us rotate out as needed so we don’t drop onto the decking. Sometimes just being able to stand in front of of an intake fan for 5mins and downing two bottles of water is the best thing on earth. But it’s not always like that
Bring some electrolyte powders to put in your water. I wear bandannas to keep the sweat out of my eyes. I even knew a guy who changed his clothes out at least once a shift because he sweat so bad. Don’t let being hot derail your thoughts of going into the ER.
I worked tankers in the Gulf of M…erica (GOM) most of my career. Summertime was brutal, with warm ocean temperature keeping the engine room hot. Some areas (near the generators) were 130 degrees. Typical summer engine room temperatures were 110 to 120 F plus the humidity. We were on the crude run up to Philadelphia, so we enjoyed the reprieve heading north. Ironically in the wintertime we couldn’t wait to get away from the arctic temps of the north and head back south. That said working on the west coast, proved to have less extreme engine room temps.
The human body is amazing in its ability to adapt. If you want to become an engineer, be ready to sweat, stay hydrated, and climbing stairs. Temperature extremes is just part of the job.
