manhole covers, sewer caps, drains, etc

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AV-geek
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23 Jun 2006, 3:10 pm

Any of you all ever notice these while walking down city streets? Some are rather boring, but others can be rather interestingly styled. Some cities even go as far as decorating them for a particular neighborhood! Manhole covers can be sort of like coins, although obviously much larger and heavier

In Washington DC, they were having problems with the deteriorated electrical wiring in the manholes sparking, and igniting sewer gas. It is all too frequent occurance there to have explosions underground that send manhole covers flying!



Revenant
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28 Nov 2006, 10:13 am

Manhole covers rule! I loved to look at them on the way to school when I was a kid.
I thought I was the only one to pay attention to their awesome deisgns and diversity



Callista
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28 Nov 2006, 10:51 am

When you see VULCAN printed on a manhole cover, does that mean the company was named after the Roman god of fire, or that the designer was a Star Trek fan? :lol:


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hale_bopp
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28 Nov 2006, 6:58 pm

Always.

I always look for fire hydrant covers, manhole covers and stuff and wonder what it's like underneith the road.

When I was a small child I had an unhealthy obsession with staring down drains.



Hovis
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29 Nov 2006, 10:29 am

hale_bopp wrote:
When I was a small child I had an unhealthy obsession with staring down drains.


I always have an urge to glance down drains as I go past.

Once I looked down one and saw a small frog sitting on a ledge looking back. :)



Revenant
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29 Nov 2006, 10:42 am

Yeah I do did that to. ANd even now I stare down open manholes when there are workers there. They often tell me to back of because I might fall down. They obviously think I'm a ret*d for walking close to those. Heights have always ascinated me and I'm a curious explorer person by nature. So obviously, I'd look down into a manhole to check "what's going on" down there.



davethecave
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29 Nov 2006, 10:49 am

A useless fact about manhole covers;
They are usually circular. This is because a square one, when held vertically, could fall down its own hole. A circular one can never fall down its own hole.



hyperbolic
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29 Nov 2006, 12:09 pm

They are usually circular. This is because a square one, when held vertically, could fall down its own hole. A circular one can never fall down its own hole.


clever



Freawaru
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29 Nov 2006, 12:11 pm

Quote:
They are usually circular. This is because a square one, when held vertically, could fall down its own hole. A circular one can never fall down its own hole.


You just made me ridiculously happy.



blackcat
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29 Nov 2006, 12:13 pm

hale_bopp wrote:
Always.

I always look for fire hydrant covers, manhole covers and stuff and wonder what it's like underneith the road.

When I was a small child I had an unhealthy obsession with staring down drains.



i cant look down or walk on them, they scare me.


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Revenant
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29 Nov 2006, 2:51 pm

WHat about hexagonal ones? They'd fall. Octagonal? Would fall. Heptagonal? Would fall.

That is the awesomeness of the circle.



Lightning88
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29 Nov 2006, 3:56 pm

The ones here in Indianapolis (at least the downtown area) have smoke coming out of them for some odd reason. And once, a year or two ago, about three or four of them exploded, sending the manhole covers flying and critically injuring people and destructing cars. When I saw that on the news, it made me laugh so hard. lol



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29 Nov 2006, 6:30 pm

I work in that sort of industry(well, on the recieving end; I work on a sewage treatment plant). Its a good place for aspies, if you can take the smell(but it doesnt always, and you do get used to it).

Depending on conditions down there, you can get anaerobic bacteria or anoxic bacteria growth, causing either too much oxygen, or not enough(which is a danger to sewer workers). that is the source of the explosions; too much oxygen in the presence of a spark or heat, and a fuel source.

A good sewer is a mix of those. Its the anoxic situations that lead to the bad smell and the reverse to the explosions. Your city needs to get that problem treated.



Wisguy
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29 Nov 2006, 8:58 pm

xon wrote:
They are usually circular. This is because a square one, when held vertically, could fall down its own hole. A circular one can never fall down its own hole.


clever

They can also be rolled, making them easily moved, when round.

BTW, I live about a 15 minute drive from the Neenah Foundary plant (it's in Neenah, WI).

:wink:

Mike