Steam pipes of doom: Could it happen here?

[Ian David]

team pipes of doom: Could it happen here?
Submitted by adamg on Thu, 07/19/2007 - 12:14pm.

If steam pipes in New York explode, should we worry? After all, downtown has a similar steam network. WBZ digs deep and demands answers. Maybe Trigen could get some tips from Nstar.

More:
http://www.universalhub.com/node/9651

[polmaven]

1. Maybe they ought to ask the Big Dig folks

for some help in preventing that! After all, safety has always come first with them!:sarcasm:

[Fearless]

2. I was under the impression

that Boston did not have a steam network similar to NY. Anyone know for sure?? Incidently, I do know for a fact that there are regular water pipes beneath Boston, still in use, that are around 130 years old. Funnier still is that their exact locations are not known because proper records were not kept up.

[Tesha]

3. TriGen delivers steam through 22 miles of pipes.

Mr. Tesha used to work in Boston's Chinatown, right
across the street from the big TriGen steam generation
facility. (TriGen is the building with smoke stacks
that you are driving directly towards as you enter
the Big Dig tunnel northbound.)

They supply steam to many buildings in the area through
a 22-mile network of pipes under the street. In fact,
Mr. Tesha's building had a connection that could be used
as backup-heat if/when the in-building boilers failed.

TriGen does do pipe network maintenance from time-to-time.
For quite a while a year or two ago, a street in Chinatown
was all dug up as the company did something-or-other to
the steam pipeline.

Tesha