What are these DWV pipes with cables inside for?

[Keith_McClary]

The main floor is an office. The second floor might be an apartment.

 

[berkeman]

What is a DWV pipe? And is that a permanent practical joke (PPJ) pipe over the door?

 

[Baluncore]

What country, what city?

 

[Keith_McClary]

What is a DWV pipe?

PVC drain waste vent pipe.

And is that a permanent practical joke (PPJ) pipe over the door?

The white one could be an exhaust for a built-in vacuum system.

 

[Keith_McClary]

What country, what city?

Crowsnest Pass, Alberta, Canada.

 

[Baluncore]

Crowsnest Pass, Alberta, Canada.

At first I thought protection of cables from ice or animals, but that did not add up.

My guess is that the conduit above the door was for a light when there was a cover over the doorway. Many older buildings in Crowsnest have a lamp high on the wall. That probably relates to the long winter nights in the period before the installation of the street lighting.

The drain pipes may freeze up in winter. The wires are probably electrical resistance wires that will thaw sufficient of the ice to allow the discharge to flow again.
Why there are two pipes I do not know, maybe two quite separate systems discharge meltwater.

 

[hutchphd]

My guess is that the conduit above the door was for a light when there was a cover over the doorway.

So that's a light pipe eh?...sorry...its a compulsion

 

[davenn]

The drain pipes may freeze up in winter. The wires are probably electrical resistance wires that will thaw sufficient of the ice to allow the discharge to flow again.

A worthy thought, knowing how cold it gets in Alberta during winter

 

[Keith_McClary]

The drain pipes may freeze up in winter. The wires are probably electrical resistance wires that will thaw sufficient of the ice to allow the discharge to flow again.

The roof drains are usually aluminum like the brown downpipe on the left of the white door, and I have not heard of them freezing up or needing heating (If it is warm enough to melt the snow on roofs, then the downpipe is also warm.). The black pipes come from inside the building - I can't think what they could (legally) be draining onto the roadway. There are basement sump pumps that drain through (usually smaller) DWV pipe, but not from the second floor.

 

[russ_watters]

+1 for roof drain, heat trace.

The roof drains...and I have not heard of them freezing up or needing heating (If it is warm enough to melt the snow on roofs, then the downpipe is also warm.).

Roofs are warmer because of the sun. This is what causes icicles.

The heat trace thing is pretty much 100% certainty. That's what it looks like when you heat trace piping that discharges to outside. The heat trace has to loop/extend past the downspout because icicles. That's just how it's done:
https://www.heattracespecialists.co...tal-Roofs/HTS-Roof-and-Gutter-Manual-2-12.pdf

 

[Keith_McClary]

Roofs are warmer because of the sun. This is what causes icicles.

It's poorly insulated ceilings, causing warm attics, according to your source. With well insulated ceilings and well vented (=>cold) attics, you only get melt in warm weather, so your gutters and downspouts don't ice up. Physics!

In any case, the black pipes come from inside the structure, very unusual for downpipes.

And the heating wires, if that's what they are, look unprotected at ground level. What voltage are these wires?

 

[Tom.G]

You will probably get better answers if you knock on the door and ask them.

 

[Borek]

If I were to guess it looks like an antifreezing warming system, similar to the one I have here.

The cable is quite sophisticated - inside there are two copper wires connected with some kind of a semiconductor. That means two things: first, no matter what their length is, they heat with a constant power per unit length (I don't remember details, I believe mine are something in the 20W per meter range). Second, they don't warm up above some temperature (the resistance grows as they heat up). They are connected on one side only, directly to the mains.

 

[russ_watters]

It's poorly insulated ceilings, causing warm attics, according to your source. With well insulated ceilings and well vented (=>cold) attics, you only get melt in warm weather, so your gutters and downspouts don't ice up. Physics!

Ok. Doesn't really change the issue at hand. The point is, icicles are a thing.

In any case, the black pipes come from inside the structure, very unusual for downpipes.

Not really. It may be unusual that they don't stay in the building (and get piped into a storm drain system), but whether they have to start in the building depends on where the roof drains are. You may be able to verify that configuration with an aerial/satellite photo.

But if they aren't roof drains, then the potential for icicles may be worse, not better, depending on what they are.

And the heating wires, if that's what they are, look unprotected at ground level. What voltage are these wires?

They are insulated, line voltage (varies).

 

[dlgoff]

My guess would be that they are telephone cables being routed in what happened to be there.

 

[Keith_McClary]

I'm going with the heating cable theory. What I thought was a second storey seems to be an attic under a roof sloping to the front of the building, so the water from the roof is drained from the front back to the alley through the cold attic.

 

[Baluncore]

If we had the full address, we could use Google Earth street view to see the building.

 

[Keith_McClary]

street view

It is the left third of the former pharmacy.
From the rear you can see how the roof slopes down towards the front (most of these buildings slope towards the back). The openings are louvered vents, so the attic space is cold in winter. The pipes are different, possibly related to renovation from pharmacy to office.