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Manholes explode in South Boston
By adamg on Thu, 08/23/2018 - 11:36pm
At D and West 1st streets shortly after 11 p.m., at least two and possibly three (photo of one explosion).
Han reports hearing two explosions during some Eversource work:
Apt building shook like earthquake.
Mike V reports hearing three "massive" blasts, the last louder than the first, over several minutes.
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Comments
Guess what?
You can’t keep building multiple units with central AC, Subzero fridges and Bosch dishwashers without upgrading the infrastructure.
Take a ride down East First
Take a ride down East First St and look at the big new electrical substation Eversource built between I and K St for all the new electrical load in Boston.
The substation is new
but the infrastructure ie: cables and transformers are old. In some cases almost 100 years old. The manholes contain cables and transformers for he neighborhoods. The substation only transfers the juice to these manholes which are old.
Dumb
Yeah, this is dumb.
A more intresting question is if this might be the result of saltwater inundation from the flooding this past winter. D street down there is in the FEMA flood zone, and the areas just west and north had water backflowing through storm drains and most likely other utility conduits.
I know over in Charlestown a friend had floodwater coming right out of his basement electrical box because the conduit / infrastructure below the street flooded out.
Winter is often the reason for summer manhole explosions
During the winter salt-laden slush and water seep into the tunnels that carry low voltage distribution lines causing corrosion. In the summer gases build up in these tunnels at the same time that demand for electricity spikes. Most modern appliances are very efficient.