# Liquid nitrogen tanks on the street

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquid-nitrogen-tanks-on-the-street/217624>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 7, 2003, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquid-nitrogen-tanks-on-the-street/217624 "2003-12-07T22:01:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sendhil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sendhil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sendhil)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquid-nitrogen-tanks-on-the-street/217624/1 "2003-12-07T22:01:05Z")

</div>

In New York City, particularly in midtown Manhattan, one often sees big metal tanks of liquid nitrogen on the street.\_ I presume these have something to do with what’s going on under the street, as there are usually tubes going from the tanks to holes in the ground.

What are these for?