(no subject)

[electricland]

Why do you suppose there are scorch marks on the radiator in the women's washroom?

My best guess is that the pipes froze and they thawed them out with a blowtorch, but this seems like an extreme solution.

Comments

[whimcomic.livejournal.com]

... but logical. Extreme, but logical.
The other alternative is that they caught fire all by themselves from the passion of lonely hearts.
...
*smirk*

[bryghtboy.livejournal.com]

Or it could have been somebody who was in the washroom and playing around with fire. If its a public-ish washroom, could have been somebody who felt that the decor wasn't quite to their liking. And decided to add a little flame to the place....

[nellisir.livejournal.com]

Actually, it's quite probable. Liquid water takes alot of energy to heat. You can melt a small amount of ice quickly, but once it becomes liquid, it sucks a large amount of heat/energy, and prevents other ice from melting. So you need a fairly strong source of heat...like a blowtorch.

well

[electricland.livejournal.com]

actually the amount of energy required for a phase change is generally far higher than that required to raise the temperature of either the liquid or solid form of whatever substance it is by a couple of degrees... which is not to say, of course, that they weren't using a blowtorch to melt the ice.

But really. Scorch marks. It seems extreme.

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think I like the logical explanation better.

Let this be a lesson to them to keep the windows shut.

[electricland.livejournal.com]

hey, this is where I WORK!

and actually there is a combination lock on the door, specially put there to frustrate those who need the loo in a hurry

Aside from that, good (if disturbing) explanation.

Re: well

[nellisir.livejournal.com]

It's not. Really. I'm a carpenter; we had two cases of frozen pipes last week. You get one guess as to what the plumber used to thaw them.

And those were plastic pipes.

Re: well

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Oh, cool!

Right up there with boiling water in a cardboard box...

Re: well

[nellisir.livejournal.com]

I didn't mean to sound snarky in the last post. I don't know if you thought I was being snarky or not, but thinking about it 5 minutes later, I think I did. So, sorry for any snarkiness.

Anyways, yeah. I've never heard of boiling water in a cardboard box, but I have heard about boiling water in a leaf, and it works on the same principle. The water whisks the heat away. You can't solder a pipe full of water, either. In a frozen pipe, the water on the outside melts first, effectively protecting a core of ice -- not only do you have to heat the actual pipe, you've got to heat alot of water too -- at least enough to get regular water flowing consistently again.

Re: well

[whimcomic.livejournal.com]

*does the I Love The Physics Of Ice Dance*
(it's very slippery and sometimes unexpectedly painful)

Re: well

[electricland.livejournal.com]

don't give it a thought (re: snarkiness). As long as you don't give my snarkiness (also unintentional) a thought either...

V. interesting, I didn't know you couldn't solder a pipe full of water, although of course it makes perfect sense now I come to think of it.