Perhaps I have missed this in the thread, but has anyone described the
mechanism of accumulation of water at the base of the corner tubing, of Rohn
25-Like towers?
Some outside the box thinking...
If you did something liike seal each joint/bolts assembly with liberal
amounts of externally applied RTV material, after assembly, that would
eliminate water entering through capillary action through the joints.
I wonder if when the tower cools a lot, at night, if that can cause a
significant, but slight vacuum, inside the legs that would draw moisture in
that is sitting on outside joints.
Water entry may not only be through joints, but may be condensation. Does
the "Pointy Top" close off the top ends of the corner posts? Could you
perhaps tap into the top sections of a tower, where stresses and weight are
low, and apply a blast of pressurized air, into the whole length of the leg,
to clear/blow out any accumulated crud at the base, and to check that the
base tips of the legs are clear. That might be a good idea when setting
the base, if the effort is made to place the buried legs on gravel which
allows drainage, to put some air pressure insde the vertical tubes to
continuously blow out ingress of wet concrete during base setup. How about
some sort of electic thermal wrap around each leg, as it enters the ground,
to periodically evaporate accoumulated water?
Sincerely, Pat Barthelow aa6eg@hotmail.com
http://www.jamesburgdish.org
Jamesburg Earth Station Moon Bounce Team
http://www.cq-vhf.com
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