airsix
Contributor
lee3:
Same here. I'd be thinking "It's pitch black, don't know which way's up, and I'm hurtling down a pipe into a giant food-processor (turbine)".
-Ben
(03 JUL 05) Diver Injured After Being Pulled Through Pipe
- Thread starter detroit diver
- Start date
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Same here. I'd be thinking "It's pitch black, don't know which way's up, and I'm hurtling down a pipe into a giant food-processor (turbine)".
-Ben
My first thought is that this is pure BS!!
What sucked her into that pipe?? certainly the POND at the other end didn't! Is the pond Below the lake level so that it has a siphon? she sure didn't swim out into the pond Against the current. This sounds fishy, especialy since she won't talk about it.
What sucked her into that pipe?? certainly the POND at the other end didn't! Is the pond Below the lake level so that it has a siphon? she sure didn't swim out into the pond Against the current. This sounds fishy, especialy since she won't talk about it.
I just wanna read her log book.
derwoodwithasherwood
Contributor
CIBDiving:
Actually, assuming the figures given in the report are accurate (6 feet per second flow rate, 96 inch diameter pipe 2500 feet long) and further assuming that the pipe is fairly straight but the pipe walls are relatively rough then the surface of the pond is only 2' 7 1/8" lower than the surface of the lake when calculated via the Hazen-Williams formula using a C-factor of 100. Even if the C-factor was halved to 50, the difference in surface heights would still be less than 10 feet.
Height of the pipe ends doesn't matter -- it might even flow upwards. What counts is the respective surface heights and (with a 96" diameter pipe) it doesn't take much difference to make for a heck of a current.
crpntr133
lost, even with a compass
The pumps suck the water out of the cooling water pond and feed it through the plant wether it be to a turbine or otherwise. So basically what controls the flow is the water level at the pond end. If you starting emptying the pond then the water flows in from the lake where she was sucked in from.
There is pretty much no way that she could have gotten to the turbine, in one piece that is. This is assuming that she would have been unfortunate enough to swim across the cooling water pond and into the plant intake.
It would have been one hell of a ride no matter what way you look at it. The total darkness would have done me in.
There is pretty much no way that she could have gotten to the turbine, in one piece that is. This is assuming that she would have been unfortunate enough to swim across the cooling water pond and into the plant intake.
It would have been one hell of a ride no matter what way you look at it. The total darkness would have done me in.
DennisS
Contributor
A friend of mine was working as a dive supervisor in the offshore oil fields, they had a diver down and all of a sudden the hose was whipping off the deck and then it parted. Someone, several miles up from where they were, had opened some valve and the diver was gone.
Sasquatch
Contributor
The folks from Letterman should call her. I'll bet she was ecstatic at seeing the light at the end of that tunnel! Really glad she's OK.
Imagine the thoughts going through her head...traveling 6 feet a second in a pitch black tunnel for almost 1/2 a mile. That's insane!
One thought comes to mind...big, fast spinning fan at the end of this that will cut me to shreads. ACK!!
One thought comes to mind...big, fast spinning fan at the end of this that will cut me to shreads. ACK!!
Kriterian
Guest
Here's a bit more information from the water plant's consumer spokesman. It adds a few more details on what was wrong with the pipe:
Consumers spokesman Dennis McKee said Eddy was "jubilant" to be alive
when he came upon her shortly after she walked out of the intake canal.
She had been diving in about 40 feet of water 3,500 feet offshore with
her husband and another couple when she suddenly disappeared,
triggering a sizable search.
McKee confirmed this past week that a section of the utility's intake
system at the bottom of the lake had been damaged weeks earlier. Bolts
holding a 42-inch section of pipe had sheared off, leaving a hole that
large in an 8-foot diameter pipe about 3,500 feet from shore. Eddy was
sucked through that hole, then drawn into an 18-foot diameter pipe,
tumbling through the water at about 6 feet per second until she entered
the canal.
McKee said Consumers has been attempting to fix the damaged section but
has been delayed by rough weather. He expects it will be repaired "in
days, not weeks." The pipes draw water from the lake to cool the steam
used to generate electricity.
McKee said it is conducting a review of its safety procedures to see if
additional measures -- such as underwater warning signs -- are
warranted.
Water system officials in Holland, Wyoming and Grand Rapids all said
they have protective screens on their underwater pipes.
McKee said Consumers current underwater system is much safer for the
public than the old one, in which water was discharged and drawn at the
lake's surface.
In 1977, the Ottawa County Sheriff's Department stepped up patrols at
Windsnest Park -- the site of last weekend's diving incident -- after a
series of drownings at the warm water outlet. A township official
stated at the time there had been 13 drownings and 125 rescues at the
outlet since the park was established a few years earlier.
Avid divers say that section of water still is popular, both for divers
and anglers drawn by the fish attracted to the warm water "bubbler"
under the lake's surface. Divers bored by miles of barren, sandy lake
bottom are attracted by the pipe complex, the presence of fish and the
many boat anchors lost in that area, according to dive shop owner Peggy
Kurpinski.
"They go there to look for lost anchors. It's a nice warm spot to go.
Typically, it's not a difficult dive," said Kurpinski, owner of
Adventures in Diving in Holland.
But she said divers must be wary when diving in areas that could pose
unknown dangers.
"You always need to take some precautions in diving."
Kurpinski said it is likely Joan Eddy had just a single tank, normally
good for about 40 minutes of air. She would use up that air much faster
in a panic situation.
Festerling said he has dived the Consumers site about a half-dozen
times in recent years. When he does, he takes care to avoid the
currents near the discharge point.
"You don't want any surprises when you are underwater," he said.
Consumers spokesman Dennis McKee said Eddy was "jubilant" to be alive
when he came upon her shortly after she walked out of the intake canal.
She had been diving in about 40 feet of water 3,500 feet offshore with
her husband and another couple when she suddenly disappeared,
triggering a sizable search.
McKee confirmed this past week that a section of the utility's intake
system at the bottom of the lake had been damaged weeks earlier. Bolts
holding a 42-inch section of pipe had sheared off, leaving a hole that
large in an 8-foot diameter pipe about 3,500 feet from shore. Eddy was
sucked through that hole, then drawn into an 18-foot diameter pipe,
tumbling through the water at about 6 feet per second until she entered
the canal.
McKee said Consumers has been attempting to fix the damaged section but
has been delayed by rough weather. He expects it will be repaired "in
days, not weeks." The pipes draw water from the lake to cool the steam
used to generate electricity.
McKee said it is conducting a review of its safety procedures to see if
additional measures -- such as underwater warning signs -- are
warranted.
Water system officials in Holland, Wyoming and Grand Rapids all said
they have protective screens on their underwater pipes.
McKee said Consumers current underwater system is much safer for the
public than the old one, in which water was discharged and drawn at the
lake's surface.
In 1977, the Ottawa County Sheriff's Department stepped up patrols at
Windsnest Park -- the site of last weekend's diving incident -- after a
series of drownings at the warm water outlet. A township official
stated at the time there had been 13 drownings and 125 rescues at the
outlet since the park was established a few years earlier.
Avid divers say that section of water still is popular, both for divers
and anglers drawn by the fish attracted to the warm water "bubbler"
under the lake's surface. Divers bored by miles of barren, sandy lake
bottom are attracted by the pipe complex, the presence of fish and the
many boat anchors lost in that area, according to dive shop owner Peggy
Kurpinski.
"They go there to look for lost anchors. It's a nice warm spot to go.
Typically, it's not a difficult dive," said Kurpinski, owner of
Adventures in Diving in Holland.
But she said divers must be wary when diving in areas that could pose
unknown dangers.
"You always need to take some precautions in diving."
Kurpinski said it is likely Joan Eddy had just a single tank, normally
good for about 40 minutes of air. She would use up that air much faster
in a panic situation.
Festerling said he has dived the Consumers site about a half-dozen
times in recent years. When he does, he takes care to avoid the
currents near the discharge point.
"You don't want any surprises when you are underwater," he said.
divekyra
Guest
Just a tidbit that perhaps I shouldn't even be mentioning, but for the safety of all divers I believe it is important: shortly before this event divers from the company I work for checked out the flow and the missing parts to this pipe. 1.Flow was at times ABOVE 6ft per second. 2.They warned that repairs were necessary.
One newspaper falsely stated that this happened at a nuke plant: divers are not allowed anywhere near a nuke plant from land or water and there are clear signs and buoys around nuke plants.
This happened at a coal burning plant and they should have buoys not just the "weed covered" signs. You need your sign in the water not on land thousands of feet away. I don't know about you but my eyesight isn't that good. The plant did not want to repair the pipe and the job was cancelled. All comments by Mr. McKee are striclty CYA.
One newspaper falsely stated that this happened at a nuke plant: divers are not allowed anywhere near a nuke plant from land or water and there are clear signs and buoys around nuke plants.
This happened at a coal burning plant and they should have buoys not just the "weed covered" signs. You need your sign in the water not on land thousands of feet away. I don't know about you but my eyesight isn't that good. The plant did not want to repair the pipe and the job was cancelled. All comments by Mr. McKee are striclty CYA.
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