Hi Jim
On (03 Feb 98) Jim Dunmyer wrote to Alec Cameron...
 JD> A friend recently retired from Detriot Edison, where he worked at a
 JD> coal-fired generating plant. He said that he often wondered how they had
 JD> enough electricity left over to sell after all they used in-house to run
 JD> fans, pumps, etc.
It is about 10% of turbine output, as I recall. But if you look at the values
for an automobile and account for the water pump, oil pump, radiator fan,
camshaft drive, steering pump........ the figure is probably much higher than
10%
I had my "10HP" English Ford put on a dynamometer before taking a caravan 
rip
in 1960. The engine was rated 36BHP, that is the input to the crankshaft. The
back wheels delivered max about 9HP. The tester said "that's good!"
Our holiday trip of 2000kM went well!
Nuclear plants can't start up from 'dark' without
 JD> outside help; their emergency generators are just enough to perform a
 JD> graceful shutdown.
That is the case with ALL steam stations and many hydro sets too. No crank
handles!
Cheers......ALEC
... ******FLASH! Energiser bunny arrested, charged with battery******
--- PPoint 1.92
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