Gulf coast oil spill

Spexxvet · 06-09-2010, 07:50 AM

Cover the end of the pipe with a giant hose and pump all the oil coming out of the pipe into tankers.

glatt · 06-09-2010, 11:20 AM

Heat shrink tubing. You get some fat-ass tubing and slip it over the whole mess, then you shoot hot water at it until it shrinks and seals everything up.

No? Tubing is too weak? How about bolting a second blowout preventer on top of the first one, and then closing the valves on it?

No? Methane ice will clog it up right away? Um. how about making a machine that will clamp securely onto the first blowout preventer and then will use hydraulic pistons to jam a plug right into the end of the pipe? Kind of like an old fashioned beer bottle stopper on a hinge, except with hydraulic pistons or screws on the sides to force it shut.

Basically, I don't know jack about how much pressure you are fighting and how the ice forms, but there are lots of different random ideas I could come up with.

How about a giant angioplasty balloon that you can stick into the pipe and then clamp it in place and start to inflate it with heavy mud or something?

06-09-2010, 07:50 AM	#1
Spexxvet Makes some feel uncomfortable Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 10,346	Cover the end of the pipe with a giant hose and pump all the oil coming out of the pipe into tankers. __________________ "I'm certainly free, nay compelled, to spread the gospel of Spex. " - xoxoxoBruce

06-09-2010, 11:20 AM	#2
glatt ™ Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Arlington, VA Posts: 27,717	Heat shrink tubing. You get some fat-ass tubing and slip it over the whole mess, then you shoot hot water at it until it shrinks and seals everything up. No? Tubing is too weak? How about bolting a second blowout preventer on top of the first one, and then closing the valves on it? No? Methane ice will clog it up right away? Um. how about making a machine that will clamp securely onto the first blowout preventer and then will use hydraulic pistons to jam a plug right into the end of the pipe? Kind of like an old fashioned beer bottle stopper on a hinge, except with hydraulic pistons or screws on the sides to force it shut. Basically, I don't know jack about how much pressure you are fighting and how the ice forms, but there are lots of different random ideas I could come up with. How about a giant angioplasty balloon that you can stick into the pipe and then clamp it in place and start to inflate it with heavy mud or something?

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