Hi all,

Drains in varous London roads were emitting clouds of steam tonight. Why
tonight, when they don't normally do this?

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John Rowland:
Drains in varous London roads were emitting clouds of steam tonight.
Why tonight, when they don't normally do this?

Cleaning time? http://www.snopes.com/humor/iftrue/cleaning.htm

Does London have a system of steam mains that provide winter heating
to various buildings, as some cities do?
--
Mark Brader | "...most people who borrow over $1,000,000 from a bank
Toronto | would at least remember the name of the bank."
| -- Judge Donald Bowman, Tax Court of Canada

On Fri, 18 Nov 2005 03:04:19 -0000,
John Rowland
wrote in :

Drains in varous London roads were emitting clouds of steam tonight. Why
tonight, when they don't normally do this?

The weather. I imagine the air would have been close to 100%
relative humidity -- the cooler the air the less water vapour it can
carry, so cooled air tends towards its saturation point. However, the air
immediately above a quantity of water is essentially saturated (100% r.h.)
at the temperature of the water. Say the water in the drains was still at
15 C while the air was 0 C[1]; the partial pressure of water vapour in the
outside air would be 4.6 mmHg, that in the drain 12.8 mmHg. Any movement
of the air from the drain to the outside would cool the air to super-
saturation, and the excess water would form droplets, visible as steam.

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu...watvap.html#c1

[1] It's -3 C here at the moment; got to 0 C around 10 or 11 last night.

--
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Brunel University. ] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

On Fri, 18 Nov 2005 05:16:23 -0000, (Mark Brader) wrote:

Does London have a system of steam mains that provide winter heating
to various buildings, as some cities do?

There was hydraulic power until quite recently.
http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/s...on/index.shtml

Battersea Power Station used to pipe hot water under the Thames to
provide heating to Dolphin Square and Pimlico. But I don't know of
any large-scale steam system. New York has one.

John Rowland wrote:

Drains in varous London roads were emitting clouds of steam tonight. Why
tonight, when they don't normally do this?

Presumably because it was cold, and the contents of the drains were
warmer. It was *condensing water vapour* rather than steam, and doesn't
need to be nearly so hot. Steam, FWIW, is as invisible as the rest of
the air.
--
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Laurence Payne writes:
There was hydraulic power until quite recently.

We know that!

Battersea Power Station used to pipe hot water under the Thames to
provide heating to Dolphin Square and Pimlico. But I don't know of
any large-scale steam system.

I see.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto "Let us knot coin gnu werds huitch
are spelld rong." -- Rik Fischer Smoody

In message , John Rowland
writes

Drains in varous London roads were emitting clouds of steam tonight. Why
tonight, when they don't normally do this?

Around 10 this morning I noticed a steaming drain in the middle of the
King's Road near the M&S, and shortly afterward clouds of vapour rising
off the Thames near Chelsea Harbour.

--
congokid
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On Sun, 20 Nov 2005, congokid wrote:

In message , John Rowland
writes

Drains in varous London roads were emitting clouds of steam tonight.
Why tonight, when they don't normally do this?

Around 10 this morning I noticed a steaming drain in the middle of the King's
Road near the M&S, and shortly afterward clouds of vapour rising off the
Thames near Chelsea Harbour.

Is this anything to do with the new series of Doctor Who?

tom

--
BUTTS LOL

Laurence Payne wrote:

Battersea Power Station used to pipe hot water under the Thames to
provide heating to Dolphin Square and Pimlico.

When the station closed thiis was replaced by a coal-fired boiler house
between the power station and the railway. This was later converted to
'dual', I assume gas and oil, firing according to its sign. Quite
recently this was demolished, does anyone know what has now replaced
it?

But I don't know of
any large-scale steam system. New York has one.

Many New York drains seem to be steaming, whatever the weather. They
also have strange orange and white 'barber's pole' striped chimneys,
for want of a better word, maybe two metres high, which can be seen
sticking up in the middle of the road. They look quite temporary.
I've also seen large, cylinders of liqiid gas, Nitrogen I think, on
street corners, chained to a pole of some sort, with the gas being
piped underground. I think this was being done by Verizon
(telephones), so pipe freezing doesn't seem likely. Any ideas?

In article . com,
wrote:
Laurence Payne wrote:

Battersea Power Station used to pipe hot water under the Thames to
provide heating to Dolphin Square and Pimlico.

When the station closed thiis was replaced by a coal-fired boiler house
between the power station and the railway. This was later converted to
'dual', I assume gas and oil, firing according to its sign. Quite
recently this was demolished, does anyone know what has now replaced
it?

On the Battersea Power Station site, nothing. For providing hot water
to Dolphin Square and the Churchill Gardens Estate, the Pimlico
District Heating Unit was built on the estate. It breaks down very
frequently indeed.

Unfortunately when Dolphin Square was built it must have been assumed
that Battersea Power Station would last forever as the lease conditions
allowed residents hot water for free for as long as the lease lasted.

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