Even the New York Times withholds the address

Wed Nov 20 01:08:35 UTC 2002

At 06:57 PM 11/19/2002, Jim Hickstein wrote:

>A steam-generating plant I once toured (another story) used number _six_ 
>fuel oil.  I asked, "Is that the stuff that comes in blocks?"  I thought I 
>was being funny.  The reply: it's delivered and kept hot in an underground 
>tank, else it "starts to get kind of glassy".

The building where I lived in NYC when in high school switched from using 
Con Edison steam to boilers and oil storage. My father oversaw the project 
for the co-op board. The system ran on #6 diesel. It's even worse than you 
thought...

System had to be started on #2 fuel oil. Once running on #2, the boilers 
were able to apply heat to the warming coils in the fuel storage tanks. The 
fuel must be kept warm or it becomes the consistency of jelly.

The boilers can NEVER be shut down now. There are multiple boilers so at 
least one should always be able to heat the tanks.

Oh, and you have to be careful to monitor the temperature at which the oil 
is delivered. If the temperature is wrong, you can be over or under charged 
for the oil (delivered by the gallon, metered at the truck, temperature 
affects volume).

This is NOT the oil you want to use for your generator.

My vote is for natural gas, which is easy to obtain in the street in NYC. 
If the gas lines get interrupted, what are the chances your fiber ducts are 
still intact? Gas has no on-site storage, cleaner burning, etc.

On the water storage subject, every building over a few stories has water 
storage. Street pressure will get you 6 stories at best. Past that, you 
need pumps. Tanks are filled by pumps in the basement, and the water used 
for domestic purposes. Some buildings have the hot water generation on the 
roof too, along with the expansion tanks. When pipes burst in the walls 
(happens too often in the building where I grew up) it's really a mess. 
Power failures suck, as you wind up without water.

Are we far enough from a topic yet?