[TowerTalk] Water in Conduit... the fix

Sat Mar 7 21:30:00 EST 2015

That's the way standard (fractional) drill sizes are measured although I 
doubt they really are accurate to 4 decimal places.  They would need to 
be new, or precision sharpened to cut a hole to match the drill size 
within 4 or 5 thousandths.  The way most of us sharpen drills makes them 
tend to run off center and drill an over size hole.  <:-))

73

Roger (K8RI)

On 3/7/2015 6:03 PM, Randy wrote:
> Thanks for clearing that up, Jim.
>
> FFS. just HOW cold does it get there? In degrees, F?
> You measure holes down to 1/10,000th of an inch?
>
>
> 73
> Randy
> KZ4RV
>
>
>
> On 3/7/2015 12:31 PM, Jim Thomson wrote:
>> Date: Fri, 06 Mar 2015 14:26:36 -0500
>> From: "Roger (K8RI) on TT" <K8RI-on-TowerTalk at tm.net>
>> To: towertalk at contesting.com
>> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Water in Conduit...  the fix
>>
>> ### ...
>> If u use a weep hole,
>>> use the bare min.. like one...maybe two at most...and no bigger 
>>> than  .15625 dia,
>>> ( five sixteenths).   .125 inch or less is usually not big 
>>> enough..and can become plugged with debris.
>> ######  oops.... I meant to say  5 / 32  of an inch  =  .15625 inch 
>> diam.
>>
>> Jim   VE7RF
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> If you must use weep holes, I'd keep them very small.  In many areas
>> 5/16ths is far too large! The reason is bugs, Wasps,  and spiders.  We
>> seem to have gained a massive increase of paper wasps, Mud Dobbers, and
>> those tiny nasty tempered Yellow Jackets over the past few years.
>> Yellow jackets seem to prefer cooler locations as in the ground and
>> under garage floors.   Mud Dobbers and Paper Wasps like enclosed spaces
>> like the tuning unit for my Hy-Gain AV640 (
>> http://www.rogerhalstead.com/ham_files/AV-640/AV640.htm ) 6th photo
>> down. Text gives explanation.  The little, stock drain hole was still
>> large enough for them to get in.  RF killed a few, causing others to
>> gang up on the threat, causing a massive mess.
>>
>> Last summer I removed nearly a dozen Paper Wasp nests from our 200 X
>> 200' lot.  Some were larger than a football.
>> I opened the small 8' garage door on the West end of the South side of
>> the shop to find a new nest of unhappy wasps. Only got stung twice
>> before I got the door closed.
>>
>> Several years ago, the whole neighborhood had more than that per 100' X
>> 200' yard.
>>
>> 73
>>
>> Roger (K8RI)
>>
>>
>>
>> On 3/6/2015 1:00 AM, Jim Thomson wrote:
>>> Date: Thu, 05 Mar 2015 08:22:58 -0600
>>> From: Patrick Greenlee <patrick_g at windstream.net>
>>> To: towertalk at contesting.com
>>> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Water in Conduit...
>>>
>>> Those of you unable to keep water out of your conduit have my sympathy.
>>> I know how irritating it could be. If your conduit is assembled 
>>> properly
>>> and doesn't leak leaving the airborne moisture as your target then put
>>> desiccant bags in the conduit and plug the ends of the conduit where 
>>> the
>>> cables enter/exit.  Various ways to plug include duct tape, spray foam,
>>> wadded up paper coated with silicon caulk or...
>>>
>>> Patrick   NJ5G
>>>
>>> ####  .....or  use  DUCT SEAL.  Available at any home depot...in the 
>>> electrical dept.
>>> Comes in 1lb packages.    It?s the Standard to use to seal conduit 
>>> ends. At the telco
>>> I worked at, they had it in 10 lb bags.   Duct seal works 
>>> great..since its like kids plastercine.
>>> Pliable, and easily stuffed in there, and molded to fill all the air 
>>> gaps.    Easily removed when
>>> it comes time to add one more cable... or remove a cable.
>>>
>>> ##  leaving conduit open is just asking for trbl.   Even if the 
>>> conduit terminates  inside your
>>> basement, or terminates inside a metal or plastic nema  box, you 
>>> still use duct seal.
>>>
>>> ##  In nema boxes out doors, or stuff like remote ant switch boxes, 
>>> etc,  put a lot of
>>> desicant inside..aka.. silica gel.   Silica gel absorbs up to 40% of 
>>> its weight in water.
>>> Seal the boxes up air tight..then with silica gel inside, they will 
>>> be bone dry.  Change
>>> the silica gel out once every year.   If a box has power to it, a 
>>> pair of those metal
>>> finned resistors and some voltage through em 24-7 also works very 
>>> well.   Just a bit
>>> of constant heat will ensure the box remains  dry..and the silica 
>>> gel absorbs the rest.
>>> 2nd resistor is for redundancy.
>>>
>>> ##  Im not a fan of metal nema boxes, since they are more prone to 
>>> condensation forming
>>> on the inside.  Some will use weep holes on the low point to let 
>>> water out.  If u use a weep hole,
>>> use the bare min.. like one...maybe two at most...and no bigger 
>>> than  .15625 dia,
>>> ( five sixteenths).   .125 inch or less is usually not big 
>>> enough..and can become plugged with debris.
>>>
>>> ##  If the weep hole is made too big, the silica gel inside will 
>>> begin to try and absorb moisture
>>> from the outside, high humidity ari..like rain and fog, high 
>>> humidity condx, etc.
>>>
>>> ##  Install large diam conduit ..like the 4 inch stuff....and forget 
>>> putting holes on the bottom side of it,
>>> Utilities don?t.   Make sure its all bone dry b4 gluing the sections 
>>> together.
>>>
>>> Jim  VE7RF
>>> _______________________________________________
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>
>

-- 

73

Roger (K8RI)

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