What am I?

[toggleswitch2]

Why am I needed?
What is my purpose.

I know. Do you?
Seen on the streets of Manhattan.

:-0

 

[toggleswitch2]

Here is a clue.

 

[frigilux]

I have absolutely no idea, but should I be concerned that something obviously under pressure is being held together with electrical tape, LOL?

Here's my guess: It's the thing that goes P-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-T!
And then the door opens on the bus.

We're having a blizzard and I don't have to go to work, today. Yippee Skip!!

 

[iheartmaytag]

At first I though it was a cannister to hold sperm samples, but then I saw it was going into a "manhole" so yea, that's it. It's a cannister to hold sperm samples.

 

[blackstone]

Well, the ONLY thing that I can read on the label is DO NOT REMOVE.

 

[nurdlinger]

It's an industrial dewar flask

Used to contain liquefied gases which are very cold. But what gas? Oxygen for the sewer workers? Nitrogen for pressurizing electrical cables? You can see the frost covering the plumbing on the top, but none on the hose so it must be shut off at the time of the photo.

 

[toggleswitch2]

STAWP IT!

Oh I-heart. I'm dying laughing here!
Well technincally yes, it is a pipe/hose in manhole.



LOL ROFL LMAO.

 

[petek]

What are you doing on that block anyways,, were in Kiehls having your skin improved today?

 

[whirlcool]

We used to see those all over Houston before fiber optic telephone cables were used. It has something to do with keeping the moisture out of the phone lines or similar.

 

[pturo]

When I use my propane in the winter, the tank side gets icy like that, so I am assuming the tank supplies heat to the manhole to thaw pipes or preheat them for workers?

 

[toggleswitch2]

LOL no dear I was not having "work done" Don't know any Doctors named Matagringos or Chupapatos.

I was doing work! I was inspecting a nearby property for appraisal purposes.

Yes it is a storage cylinder that delivers compressed gas. It is related to telepohne/communications service.

Some guesses are close indeed.....
But I'm gonna tease all of you some more and make you wait.

 

[toggleswitch2]

It's not propane.
HINT: There is plenty of heat underground from MAnhattan's steam-pipe network. One can buy steam from the public utlity for heating, hot water heating, cooling, emergency power generatation etc.

You basically can't heat a skyscraper with a boiler at the bottom, becase the flue-pipe (exhaust) effluent would cool too much and condensing caustic acidic vapors/liquids would eat the pipe/clay/bricks. Dumping the byproducts of combustion near the middle or bottom of the building means it is going to go into someone else's window (or face).

Transporting gas or fuel-oil to the top becomes dangerous, costly and mechancially complicated. Natural gas at low pressure will probably not climb so high. Water in thsi city won't go up so high under normnal pressure and is booosted to a tank at the top where it falls back down by gravity.

So this is why it is easier and less costly (for LARGE structures) to buy steam from the ouside (i.e. the public utility) as vendor. Huge density of population makes this practical on the island of Manhattan.

 

[toggleswitch2]

and by the first part of the prior panel I meant to say it is impractical to run a flue to the top (of a skyscraper) from a burner/boiler at the bottom.

 

[andrewinorlando]

Steve - what fuels are the utilities using to generate steam for their steam customers these days?

 

[toggleswitch2]

Not so sure, but hopefully a large part of it is still "waste" steam from "Big Alice", the electrical generating station of Consoldated Edsion (our electrical and gas utility in NYC). It appears that the whole city and its steam users are, in effect, one large steam condenser for the utility, rather than a standard cooling tower!

IIRC only a portion of the steam needed is actually generated by burning fuel just for that purpose.

 

[toggleswitch2]

AFAIK, that is indeed a liquid nitrogen canister that is used to adminster that gas to be used as a coolant, year 'round.
Freqeuently their labels disclse their contents.

Apparently, a great deal of electronics are located in the streets to work with and control various type of fiber-optic and other types of low-voltage communications equipment.

Electrical cables and steam pipes generate a great deal of heat undeground, and as such various areas need cooling.

As a side benefit IIRC nitrogen is a major component of the air we breathe, so after it does its job as coolant, I suupose it seeks to act as an "air-freshener" (rather than somethign toxic) for those working underground.

Those things are all over the place and seen very fequently in the summer.

Of course I was gonna say it's a huge canister of nitrous oxide (dentist's gas) or Amyl or Butyl Nitrate (video-head cleaner a/k/a poppers), but of course I know not of such things.

 

[toggleswitch2]

..so who knew that a pipe in the manhole works to keep it cool, fresh, breathable and running smoothly?

I did I did.

 

[vintagesearch]

i used to see like 3 to 4 of these on a corner with wires everywhere!!!! in the city.

 

[pturo]

My second guess was going to be a huge pressure shaker of chilled Vodka to supply Trump tower resident's faucets. Hot, cold and Stolis in the kitchen and the bar, how convenient, especially for breakfast time, during these hard financial times. DO NOT REMOVE!