Marsh Island, Maine as well:
Steam Networks
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Re: Steam Networks
#12Even Seattle has one of these! And the University of Washington as well. It’s amazing that the economics holds up even today. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Steam_Company
Indianapolis, too [0, 1]:
> the second largest district steam system in the United States. The plant provides steam for heat and hot water to more than 200 commercial buildings and industries across downtown. Perry K's steam also helps power chilled water facilities which cool more than 60 large facilities around downtown. [1]
I grew up going to downtown Indianapolis as a kid and was always freaked out by the steam emanating from the manholes and grates on the street. It turned out not to be an unfounded fear--they have occasionally exploded [2].
0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_K._Generating_Station
1: https://info.citizensenergygroup.com/thermal/history
2: https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/locking-covers-installed-...
Re: Steam Networks
#13The temperature of this is such that industrial heat pumps are available to produce the steam. I don't imagine these are used in NY City, but they could be.
Re: Steam Networks
#14[flagged]
Re: Steam Networks
#15How is mildew and mold avoided in the pipeline and interior spaces being heated by steam?
Re: Steam Networks
#16[flagged]
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Re: Steam Networks
#17How is mildew and mold avoided in the pipeline and interior spaces being heated by steam?
Pretty sure the steam is ran through radiators and not just dumped directly into the air.
Re: Steam Networks
#18Today's ConEd seems to lag environmentally on the generation side: still runs on fossil fuels, and only half of the steam is by cogeneration of heat and power. (Going by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_steam_system)
Re: Steam Networks
#19I always thought watching films that steam in the dark streets was some cool 80s aesthetics. As in 'You are in this dark corner of the city where nobody can hear you' scary or edgy.
It would be a shitty steam network that allowed steam to just leak.
Re: Steam Networks
#20How is mildew and mold avoided in the pipeline and interior spaces being heated by steam?
Pretty sure the steam is ran through radiators and not just dumped directly into the air.
Part of it is definitely dumped directly into the air through an over-pressure valve on each radiator. At least that's been the case in all steam-heated NYC apartments I've ever visited or lived in.
But what counteracts this is a loss in humidity caused by the heating of cold air from the radiator itself (cold air warmed up reduces relative humidity), and in my experience, this more than counteracts the little bit of steam hissing out of the radiator valve.
As a side note, I've always wondered if the steam being vented that way is actually coming from the steam plant, or whether there's a heat exchanger somewhere in between that isolates a building's steam network from the distribution one (which is the case for liquid water heating, as far as I understand).