Date: Fri, 29 Jan 2016 09:59:54 -0800
From: Jack Brindle <jackbrindle@me.com>
To: Larry Loen <lwloen@gmail.com>
Cc: TowerTalk <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Tower buried section legs -- Buried in
Concrete or Below the Concrete?
The big problem is condensation in the tower legs. It doesn?t matter if water
can?t get into the legs, moisture will, and then will condense when the temps
drop. That water collects over time and will rust out the leg. Thus, you really
want to leave the leg open at the bottom (thus the pea gravel) so the moisture
will drain.
- Jack, W6FB
## agreed. u gotta be nuts to embed the legs into concrete. I saw one fellow
yrs ago, across town, who had one leg fill with water, expanded...and ripped up
the inside of the leg over a 2 ft section above the concrete.
In some cases, the legs have rusted from the inside. When the tower was
removed, a form had to be built around the tower, to pour concrete in, just to
make tower removal safe, like aprx 1/2 cubic yard.
## pea gravel has been known to plug a leg hole. What might work better is a
2-4 inch layer of sand above a 6-12 inch layer of pea gravel. I used to cap
off the ends of my booms...until one day I removed the 15m yagi,
and it was really heavy. Once down, I took one cap off, and the entire 26 ft
boom was full of water ! That only took 2 years to accumulate.
## sure, a pier pin base will work good too, but how much twist do you think
you will get on a properly guyed tower ??
Jim VE7RF
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