Road Works

elaine: 10th Nov 2005 - 07:58 GMT

now that is mental. it looks like a steam ship has got buried under the road

Jamie: 10th Nov 2005 - 09:05 GMT

i've seen one of those guys before

anyone care to elaborate?

indykid: 10th Nov 2005 - 13:37 GMT

Can someone from NY please explain what these stripy "steam tubes" are actually for. I'm from the UK, but I remember seeing loads of these things when I visited NY a few years back. Is it something to do with Subway ventilation?

Peter: 10th Nov 2005 - 14:13 GMT

and another:

theyre steam vents... theres a huge (and ancient, hah) network of steam-pipes/tunnels in nyc's infrastructure. whenever ConEd or some other utility group goes in to do work, they often have to avert/redirect/vent off the excess steam so they can get access to (or bypass) whatever it is theyre working on.

thus the temporary steam-chimneys.

and theyre not always steam from steampipes... sometimes its condensation or heat (or smells?) from sewage drains or raindrains.

elaine: 10th Nov 2005 - 16:03 GMT

what are they for? why did they build them? i don't know anywhere else that has them

Peter: 10th Nov 2005 - 16:37 GMT

"...Some 30 billion pounds of steam every year flow beneath the streets of Manhattan from the Battery to 96th Street. While it is unknown to most New Yorkers, Con Edison's subterranean steam system is the biggest steam district in the world, larger than the next four largest U.S. steam systems combined and boasting an annual steam production more than double that of Paris, Europe's largest system..."
from: www.gothamgazette.com/article/issueoftheweek/20031110/200/674

here are some other links:

www.coned.com/steam/kc_ot.asp
www.atlasmagazine.com/photo/sacha6

elaine: 10th Nov 2005 - 16:51 GMT

so do you pay to use the steam or what? and what generates it?

Jamie: 10th Nov 2005 - 16:56 GMT

and what would you use the steam for? maybe it couldbe used to power a tiny automaton blacksmith like the one pictured here, though this seems to me to be overkill.

elaine: 10th Nov 2005 - 16:58 GMT

automata, yess. and funfairs, they used to be steam didn't they?
i am not against a little overkill in the right context

Catherine Penfold-Waxman: 4th Dec 2005 - 21:00 GMT

A huge steam pipe the size of a building. Or maybe it's just perspective.

AMRITHRAJ UDUPA: 8th Sep 2007 - 05:44 GMT

Even I wondered what they are for ... Untill I read about them here .. I have a pic of these steam pipe on NY road ,when I visited NY . .

Karen: 17th Jan 2008 - 21:08 GMT

OK, thanks for the info but when I was there in Dec I also noticed Nitrogen cannisters at the side of the street with pipes going in to man hole covers. What's that for?

Peter: 17th Jan 2008 - 21:54 GMT

karen: ive often wondered that, too, so i googled it and found the answer:

"Cables are pressurized with nitrogen to reduce corrosion and prevent
combustion. They transport it as liquid because they can get more of
it in a tank that way."

"It's used to pressurize important fiber and cable conduits to keep
out the elements. Various alarms go off when the conduits
depressurize, alerting them to a crack/break in the system."

answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=309530