Re: NYC steam line rupture

From: <Jack>
Date: Sat Jul 21 2007 - 13:59:00 EDT

I thought that I had read that someone had run cold water into the system.....



Jack Osborn, P.E.
Mechanical Engineer
IC Engineering

   510 242 - 3094

I'm surprised there's been so little comment about the pipe that

ruptured in New York. Does everyone realize what happened and that

it's serious damn business?

Anyway one thing puzzles me. The cause of the rupture has been

postulated as 'condensate hammer'--condensate slammed around which

overloads the pipe. That's the first time I've ever run into, and I

don't understand it. Supposedly the line runs at about 200 psi. The

only way you can have any significant amount of condensate is if the

steam is saturated--at a temperature of about 381F. If it cools even

a little you get condensation and if the temperature goes up even a

little the condensate flashes to steam. It's not apparent to me that

you can have condensate and steam in the same line for any

appreciable time. Can anyone explain how this happens?

OTOH, given that the line is about 80 years old, it seems a lot more

likely that corrosion or settlement is the cause.

Christopher Wright P.E. |"They couldn't hit an elephant at

chrisw@skypoint. com | this distance" (last words of Gen.

............ ......... ......... ......... | John Sedgwick, Spotsylvania

1864)

http://www.skypoint .com/~chrisw/

<!--

#ygrp-mlmsg {font-size:13px;font-family:arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif;}
#ygrp-mlmsg table {font-size:inherit;font:100%;}
#ygrp-mlmsg select, input, textarea {font:99% arial, helvetica, clean,
sans-serif;}
#ygrp-mlmsg pre, code {font:115% monospace;}
#ygrp-mlmsg * {line-height:1.22em;}
#ygrp-text{

font-family:Georgia;
}
#ygrp-text p{

margin:0 0 1em 0;}
#ygrp-tpmsgs{

font-family:Arial;
clear:both;}
#ygrp-vitnav{

padding-top:10px;font-family:Verdana;font-size:77%;margin:0;}
#ygrp-vitnav a{

padding:0 1px;}
#ygrp-actbar{

clear:both;margin:25px 0;white-space:nowrap;color:#666;text-align:right;}
#ygrp-actbar .left{

float:left;white-space:nowrap;}
.bld{font-weight:bold;}
#ygrp-grft{

font-family:Verdana;font-size:77%;padding:15px 0;}
#ygrp-ft{

font-family:verdana;font-size:77%;border-top:1px solid #666; padding:5px 0;
}
#ygrp-mlmsg #logo{

padding-bottom:10px;}

#ygrp-vital{

background-color:#e0ecee;margin-bottom:20px;padding:2px 0 8px 8px;}
#ygrp-vital #vithd{

font-size:77%;font-family:Verdana;font-weight:bold;color:#333;text-transform:upp\ ercase;}
#ygrp-vital ul{

padding:0;margin:2px 0;}
#ygrp-vital ul li{

list-style-type:none;clear:both;border:1px solid #e0ecee; }
#ygrp-vital ul li .ct{

font-weight:bold;color:#ff7900;float:right;width:2em;text-align:right;padding-ri\ ght:.5em;}
#ygrp-vital ul li .cat{

font-weight:bold;}
#ygrp-vital a {

text-decoration:none;}

#ygrp-vital a:hover{

text-decoration:underline;}

#ygrp-sponsor #hd{

color:#999;font-size:77%;}
#ygrp-sponsor #ov{

padding:6px 13px;background-color:#e0ecee;margin-bottom:20px;}
#ygrp-sponsor #ov ul{

padding:0 0 0 8px;margin:0;}
#ygrp-sponsor #ov li{

list-style-type:square;padding:6px 0;font-size:77%;}
#ygrp-sponsor #ov li a{

text-decoration:none;font-size:130%;}
#ygrp-sponsor #nc {

background-color:#eee;margin-bottom:20px;padding:0 8px;}
#ygrp-sponsor .ad{

padding:8px 0;}
#ygrp-sponsor .ad #hd1{

font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold;color:#628c2a;font-size:100%;line-height:122%\ ;}
#ygrp-sponsor .ad a{

text-decoration:none;}
#ygrp-sponsor .ad a:hover{

text-decoration:underline;}
#ygrp-sponsor .ad p{

margin:0;}
o {font-size:0;}
.MsoNormal {
margin:0 0 0 0;}
#ygrp-text tt{

font-size:120%;}
blockquote{margin:0 0 0 4px;}
.replbq {margin:4;}
-->

________________________________________________________________________________\


Moody friends. Drama queens. Your life? Nope! - their life, your story. Play Sims Stories at Yahoo! Games.
http://sims.yahoo.com/

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Received on Sat Jul 21 13:59:00 2007

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : Mon Oct 27 2008 - 20:24:13 EDT