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Ed Pawlowski Ed Pawlowski is offline
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Default Who Was It That Recently Asked About A Hot Water Heater -- I'm In Hot Water!


"dsi1" > wrote in message
...
> On 3/14/2013 12:35 PM, Ophelia wrote:
>>
>> Our unit looks exactly the same as the one Sheldon posted, and of course
>> does both central heating and hot water
>>

>
> My step-mother said that the houses in her town (Gothenburg?) was heated
> by water coming in from a hot water factory and distributed by underground
> pipes. That was the nuttiest thing that I ever heard. Those Swedes!


It is common in big cities like New York and Philadelphia to have steam heat
supplied by a central location. This is usually done for the large
commercial buildings down town. not for residential units. Steam can be
piped fairly long distance with high pressure and a high concentration of
energy per cubic foot compared to water. Many high rise building use
steam for that reason.

The highest temperature you can move water is 212 degrees. Steam, however
can be moved at temperatures exceeding 500 degrees. Then piped through
pressure regulators at the point of use to a lower temperature.