šŸŒ¬ The Weather Thread part 2

It seems that itā€™s a hit the local farmers are been expected to suck up(pardon the pun) for the greater good. The lesser of two evils in a way, to negate the flooding of Limk city. I hope the state compensate these people.

Is the Parteen weir too small to let enough out, or would opening it up drown Limerick?

I donā€™t know but I assume it is to do with pressure and flow to through the station. The tailrace is a far smaller/narrower canal compared to the head race so assume it couldnā€™t cope with the let off

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I never had much interest in the whole system but why did they build two dams in the first place? The first dam to divert the water to the second dam seem a waste of dams to me.

The second dam is Ardnacrusha E.S.B. powerstation mate.

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Iā€™m mortified for himā€¦

Iā€™m well aware of that. But did you see the question mark on my comment.

Why two dams?

Do you know how a hydroelectric powerstation works?

Give it time.

No, but I watch James Bond movies and there only seems to be one dam in all of those, holding back a large body of water the size of Loch Derg.

Iā€™ll ask the question again, just in case you missed it last two times.

Why two dams?

How else would you control the flow of water into the power station if you didnā€™t have the initial dam upstream?

Are you suggesting that they should just have used the power station as the dam? How would the station function when the river level dropped or rose to abnormal levels?

Iā€™m mortified that you had to explain that to him.

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The water is diverted at the sluice gate above Oā€™Briansbridge. There it builds up behind the dam at Ardnacrusha. The controlled power of the water through E.S.B. turbines is the source of electricity.

Not to worry mate, if you didnā€™t know you didnā€™t know.

:see_no_evil:

There were/are a few lads employed by the ESB whoā€™s job is to walk/drive a couple of miles of the head race canal every day and record the water levels and phone them in to the station. These lads are full time and in their 50s and 60s now and with the esb since they left school. 2 hours work a day tops.

The ESB must have some Union.

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The ESB have the best union in the country. They literally ARE the power.

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They get serious wedge in the ESB too. They do indeed have a savage union there.

On the flip side of that I know a lad who works in Ardnacrusha doing maintenance and anytime something goes wrong heā€™s to crawl into tiny service vents (built for lads the size they were a hundred years and with the same level of health and safety as existed then) and spend hours cramped up in awkward positions. Same lad is nearly crippled, with back and knee problems.

Fair fucks to them. How many of them does it take to do the work of one cctv camera?

I did the tour of Ardnacrusha last summer. Quite impressive