[TowerTalk] Rusty Guy Wires

[Donald Chester]

In recent years, the guy wires on my tower have become what may be dangerously rusty, and I plan to re-guy. The tower is 127' tall with four guy levels, one every 30 feet. 

The rust pattern is very interesting. The guys at the top two levels are far more rusty than at the bottom two, even though all the guy cable came from the same roll. I could probably get by with the original bottom sets of guys for many more years, but the top two definitely need replacing, sooner not later.

The only reason I can possibly figure for the differences in the rust pattern is that the slope of the upper guys is much steeper, and water would tend to run down the the wire and stay in contact with the metal for longer, whereas the lower guys are closer to horizontal, enough that water would tend to drip off instead of running down the wire all the way to the end. The amount of rust is nearly the same on the top set and next one down, and nearly the same for the bottom set and next one up, but the difference between the second and third guy level is tremendous.


Don k4kyv