Prospect Avenue manhole cordoned off

“It’s not very common,” said Thomas Nyquist, director of Engineering at the University, “We usually don’t have this sort of steaming issue.”

Due to safety concerns raised by the condensation, University officials have cordoned off the manhole, located between Cap & Gown Club and Cloister Inn. Currently, a large black box — similar in shape to a smokestack — surrounds the open manhole to aid in the steam’s dispersal. A chain-link fence encloses the box.

The issue — an unusually large amount of hot steam rising out of the manhole — was first brought to the attention of Nyquist in early September, he said. However, Jacquelyn Nestor ’12, who frequently passes by the location, noticed the steam issue about halfway through the summer.

“They didn’t section it off until a couple weeks ago, and the big tube thing was put up just last week,” she said.

Nyquist attributed the excessive steam in large part to the record amount of rain received in August followed by the additional rain brought by Hurricane Irene. “We got a lot of water into the steam tunnels,” Nyquist said,. “It’s continuing to get in there.”

Excess water in the pipes is turned into steam when it hits the steam pipe, Nyquist explained. Steam pipes are heated to a temperature below — but close to — the boiling point of water. Condensate lines within the steam pipes help to relieve the water flow. The surplus steam’s main outlet is the vented manhole on Prospect Avenue, according to Nyquist.

Nyquist noted that the main safety concern of leaving it uncovered was the excessive amount of heat a plume of steam, like the one on Prospect Avenue, can contain.

“It was definitely really hot when you walked through it,” Nestor said, but she added that it never became a major concern of hers. “It just seems weird that it’s been there for a while; you would think they could just fix it.”

Nyquist and the rest of the Department of Engineering are still working to fix the problem. The team is also facing a leak in the condensate line within the steam tunnel.

“We’re going to work on the condensate line pretty soon,” Nyquist said. He added that the falling water tables should help alleviate the situation, and he assured students that the issue is being dealt with.

“It’s an unusual problem, and we should have it fixed pretty soon,” he said.

He predicted that most of the issues contributing to the steam problem should be resolved by the first week of November.