Enter the area of piston (in^2) and the equivalent piston speed (ft/min) into the calculator to determine the Steam Engine Power. 

Steam Engine Power Formula

The following formula is used to calculate the Steam Engine Power. 

Pse = 7*A*S /33,000
  • Where Pse is the Steam Engine Power (HP)
  • A is the area of piston (in^2) 
  • S is the equivalent piston speed (ft/min) 

To calculate steam engine power, multiply the area of the piston by the equivalent piston speed, multiply by 7, then divide by 33,000.

How to Calculate Steam Engine Power?

The following two example problems outline how to calculate the Steam Engine Power.

Example Problem #1:

  1. First, determine the area of piston (in^2). In this example, the area of piston (in^2) is measured to be 16.
  2. Next, determine the equivalent piston speed (ft/min). For this problem, the equivalent piston speed (ft/min) is calculated to be 71.
  3. Finally, calculate the Steam Engine Power using the formula above: 

Pse = 7*A*S /33,000

Inserting the values from above and solving the equation with the imputed values gives: 

Pse = 7*16*71 /33,000 = .240 (HP)

Example Problem #2: 

Using the same process as example problem 1, we first define the variables outlined by the formula. In this case, the values are:

area of piston (in^2) = 3

equivalent piston speed (ft/min) = 1000

Entering these values into the formula or calculator above gives us:: 

Pse = 7*3*1000 /33,000 = .636 (HP)