In a message dated 3/5/01 10:23:12 PM Pacific Standard Time,
utahfolk@xmission.com writes:
> A local has a 100 foot Rohn 25 with a C4XL atop ... last fall while
> cleaning out
> the grape vines in the garden with a back hoe, the front loader was up in
> the
> air and the driver caught one of the guys with the front loader and pulled
> mighty hard before he discovered what was happening. Result is that
> one of the tower legs is doglegged / bent quite noticeably, like mebbe 2"
> inside tower from vertical ... bend is just a few inches above the top of
> the concrete base in which the tower sits.
His homeowner's insurance covers this kind of thing. Put in a claim and
get a quote from a professional tower company to repair it.
ALL of the tower compressive forces wind up at the bottom of the tower
where your damage is so it's a timebomb waiting to go off. While Weber County
is a 70 MPH windspeed zone (the lowest rating they give), it does present a
potential liability exposure for the owner and his insurance company.
(I never say anything like this but here's an alternative.) Get an
engineer to inspect it and possibly design/fabricate a 'splint' or 'cripple'
arrangement for the damaged leg. The forces aren't huge and Rohn towers
historically have shown that they can take 'some' abuse without failure. If
you over-engineer it and are REAL CAREFUL, there's no reason why it can't be
a viable repair method. It could be like a scar where the scarred tissue is
stronger than the surrounding skin. Same thing with welds.
I would prefer that you pursue the first option though.
Cheers, Steve K7LXC
Tower Tech
--
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/towertalk
Submissions: towertalk@contesting.com
Administrative requests: towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems: owner-towertalk@contesting.com
|