From: petertrei@gmail.com   
      
   On 8/19/2025 3:40 AM, Tim Merrigan wrote:   
   > I suppose future speculation documentary counts as SF.   
   >   
   > I was watching tonight's episode "The Underground Rises" and I think   
   > they got something wrong.  They were talking about NYC's steam "tunnels"   
   > and how after a while, a few weeks, or months, without maintenance,   
   > they'd start to explode.   
   >   
   > My problem with that is that that's not natural steam, it's made in   
   > steam generation plants which would run out of fuel, or otherwise fail,   
   > so that by the time the show's writers had the most of the pipes   
   > exploding, they wouldn't have steam in them anymore.   
   >   
   > Now, if they'd made that Reykjavik instead of New York, I'd have no   
   > problem.   
      
   As a New Yorker in exile, I'm familiar with the system, and the orange   
   and white smokestacks venting steam from manholes.   
      
   But I'd always assumed it was low pressure. This post caused me to   
   check, and to my surprise the pipes run at 200 psi, and yes, there   
   have been a few explosions.   
      
   pt   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)