Smithfield Gas Brasiers - Money Wasted?

Undercoverguy

Just wondering guys,

A mate of mine is working at Smithfield on Ice this year and i went for skate a few times. Everytime i went i notice those big Gas Brasiers/Burners wernt turned on and instead just the public lighting on the polls were on.

So i asked just a random by-stander (thats me for ya!) why they were off. Ironicly the person i asked lived in Smithfield and told me they havnt been on for well over 18 months!!!!! So i outta total bordom the next day in work went Googling on found out these burners are ment to be somewhat of a tourist attraction because Smithfield Square is the biggest open civic space in europe, i even found the burners mentioned on several tourist websites as "Attractions and Places to Visit"

So my question is guys, why the hell dont Dublin City Council turn them on?
I found out two of them were broken one possibly beyond repair but the others are said to work grand. Then i went checking if the apartments recently erected behind the burners had anything to do with it but when they were built it was promised it wouldnt interfere and there was no danger.

It may sound like i've become obsessed but one of the main resons behind this is i'd like to see he bloody things turned on!!

Anyone?

BTW When they are turned on they are supposed to look amazing (picture): http://www.bordgais.ie/files/20060109102506_4390_gas_annual_report.pdf

yossarin

apparently they are very expensive as they burn a lot of gas.

can't remember the figure, but it was in the thousands.

Dr_Teeth

Think of the global warming man :P They should have planted trees tbh

mp3guy

Undercoverguy wrote:

So i asked just a random by-stander (thats me for ya!) why they were off. Ironicly the person i asked lived in Smithfield and told me they havnt been on for well over 18 months!!!!!

Don't mean to be picky, but is that not more coincidental than ironic?

Undercoverguy

A DCC crew guy told me that by todays costs it will cost about 100euro per burner per hour.

So to burn 10 brasiers for an hour its a grand.
Someone was telling me they used to be turned on from 7pm - 10pm every Saturday night during the Winter and from about 9pm - 11pm in the Summer.

Why cant they go back to that? Every sat for 2 hours.
8pm - 10pm, thats only say only 2000euro a week.
Bargin when you think of the hundreds of thousands that was spent erecting the burners and devlopment of the square.

At this stage maybe i'll just break into that little bunker in the square, Press the buttons and light the bloody things myself lol

Wez

Did they not plan this fecking thing at all, and realise how expensive they're gonna be!? It prolly cost a fortune to put them up in the first place! Could they not even use those fake flames that you can buy in shop? It's a light and a fan that flaps a bit of fabric, convincing enough like..

monkeyfudge

Just seems horribly wasteful use of fuel to me. Perhaps they should only be stuck on for special civic events.

I remember when they had them on regularly at first the emergency services would get lots of phone calls as people all over the city thought there was a massive blaze.

Angus MacGyver

I lived up there when they first put em up and they were only ever turned on on a friday night, One night they turned on the burners without the lights underneath, it was very strange because they were like huge candles flickering all over the ground, Good floodlights for football

Ruu_Old

Bumped over from AH, this is more of a regional issue, feel free to throw it back if its in the wrong spot. Thanks.

InFront

I have never seen them, i'd say we're better off saving the energy than pulling a very questionable number of tourists out to Smithfield to impress them with our fire-making. I sometimes think Dublin has far better things to offer than tends to be marketed to tourists.

Red Alert

I think they're ok, maybe turn them on once a week or so at the weekends. Definitely they shouldn't be let rust away. Presumably they're automatic or does some guy have to go and turn them on.

The phoenix park has gas lights too.

JaysusMacfeck

They should have used a fire effect using silk and fans. A lot cheaper and can be on 24h.

ixoy

Lived here since July '05 and, for the first few months, they used to turn a few on on a Saturday night. When I say a few, I mean approximately three or four out of the lot.

After a few months, they've stopped which is a shame as they were quite nice when you lived there unlike that life-wrecking ice-rink :mad: