In a message dated 99-11-20 18:14:20 EST, you write:
> On the south tower leg below the first guy point (33') the leg has
> split like a frozen water pipe 18" below the guy bracket for about 3
> inches between one of the Z braces. 5' above the guy bracket there is
> another split but that one is only 2 inches long between a Z brace.
> The 3 inch split looks like it is still 'running' with the metal not
> rusted.
Hmm, kinda mysterious. I recently bought a bunch of used 45G and one of
them had a split about a foot long IN THE MIDDLE of a section. It was so
straight that I suspect that it's on a seam and the seam weld broke - why I
don't know. I don't know where this section was when it was in use.
The water freezing damage that I've seen has been right at the bottom
of the tower where the top of the water in the leg was - not anywhere else.
And the split was not the surgical split like the one I described above.
> About 3 weeks ago we had a good 50+ MPH wind here that took down one
> commercial tower so that is probably when the damage occurred.
> My question to the masses of Towertalk is if anyone has any
> *temporary* solution. I am thinking of a sleeve and clamp arrangement.
> NO, this tower *will* be coming down but any temporary arrangement
> would be something to allow for the unstacking of the tower and
> removal of the antenna and feedline in the spring at the latest.
> What can be done now to minimize any continuing splitting of that
> tower leg?
I would splint the leg with a split piece of pipe or angle iron and
(like a previous poster said) use a bunch of hoseclamps to secure everything.
Have the splint as long as you can and it should be good to go until you can
get it replaced.
I don't think the split is due to the leg joint hardware left in the
leg. The hardware is packed in first foot at the bottom of the section (the
multiple splits you've got high on the tower don't lend themselves to that
theory). It might be temperature cycling and other tower stresses (your
recent windstorm) done over time on a substandard weld. That's my theory
anyway.
Cheers, Steve K7LXC
Tower Tech
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