Wooden Piping

[gruntly]

I recall a thread that included some talk about underground wood piping a while back... My wife and I, out for a cruise a week or so ago came across this small hydro generating station that we hadn't seen before...

I don't ever remember seeing wood piping before, let alone in use and this was quite an initiation. It can out of the bottom of a dam and stretched down the ravine as far as I could see.

You'll see a leak on one of the pipes about 2/3 of the way down in pic 3. I think the 2 outsiders are 6' and the center 4', but that's a guess.

[slimwoodie]

cool ...

pulled out some 48" wood pipe years ago on a City Water System .....

[bluestone]

Those pipes are called Penstocks, we have one here in So. VT about 4 miles long.

Is Barre near Huntsville? seems like I've seen those before, kin from Huntsville

[Green Mountain]

Those pipes are called Penstocks, we have one here in So. VT about 4 miles long.

Ahyup! It connects Sommerset Res. with Harriman Res. It is something to see. You would swear to gad that it was flowing uphill when you are driving next to it.

I must confess that I didn't know it was called "Penstock" however. Bluestone must be one of those natives.

[x-wrenchturner]

Dug up an 18" x 18" wooden gas main back in the early 80s, that had just been decommissioned.

It was in real good shape, but everyone seemed to agree that it was the red clay they it was buried in that kept it tight.

[RoBoTeq]

Some older cities like Baltimore still have some of the old wood gas piping in use. About 10 years ago one them took out an intersection in Baltimore when it ignited during some construction. As I recall, no one was seriously injured in that incident.

To keep the wood from developing leaks, water is pushed through them. You need to be careful installing gas piping in Baltimore City if it is exposed to freezing conditions.

[gruntly]

Those pipes are called Penstocks, we have one here in So. VT about 4 miles long.

Is Barre near Huntsville? seems like I've seen those before, kin from Huntsville

Barrie is about 50 or 60 miles south of Huntsville but you're quite right. This was just outside of Bracebridge which is just a couple of miles south of Huntsville.

Penstocks, huh? Interesting. I've heard that name before, just never related it to anything.

Different angles... The center one may have been out of commission because, as I recall, there was no sign of leakage or seapage, unlike the other two.