[TowerTalk] Tower buried section legs -- Buried in Concrete orBelow the Concrete?

[Patrick Greenlee]

What does the brain trust think about the idea of plugging the ID of 
tower legs slightly above the top of the concrete foundation and 
drilling a weep (drain) hole at the top of the plug.  It would require 
poking into that hole periodically to prevent insects or whatever from 
plugging the hole but should eliminate the need for any concern or 
proactive adding of pea gravel below the tower legs or acid soil eating 
on the bottom of the legs.

Patrick        NJ5G

On 1/29/2016 10:40 AM, Chris Wynn via TowerTalk wrote:
> On my first Rohn 25 tower that I put up while in college, I had water get into a leg and actually busted outwardly.  It left about an inch and a half rip looking seam.  This occurred about 4 feet from the top of the concrete pad.  I could only imagine that there was some type of obstruction in the leg that allowed water to build at that point.  When it froze, the water expanded outwardly, busting the leg.Regardless, the tower lasted throughout my college career and until I later got married and moved out.  I would imagine that my father is still using that section to hold up one of his bird houses.I would add that pea gravel as a way to drain any moisture, just in case....
>
> Good luck
> Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
>   
>    On Fri, Jan 29, 2016 at 8:51 AM, Larry<lknain at nc.rr.com> wrote:   I have always put the pea gravel in the bottom as spec'd by Rohn. The way
> the legs are constructed and assembled on G sections I suspect there is very
> little water that gets in the legs. Probably more of an issue if the top
> section is just another straight section and the ends are not capped in some
> way. But I could imagine a very small amount of seepage perhaps through the
> bolt connections and perhaps over time rusting out the bottom of a leg that
> is sealed in concrete.  Perhaps condensation in some environments could play
> a role. The latter two seem awfully remote to me.
>
> 73, Larry  W6NWS
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Larry Loen
> Sent: Friday, January 29, 2016 7:17 AM
> To: TowerTalk
> Subject: [TowerTalk] Tower buried section legs -- Buried in Concrete orBelow
> the Concrete?
>
> The Rohn spec calls for the legs of the bottom section to be buried a few
> inches in pea gravel below the concrete.  My contractor suggests that as
> long as the top is properly sealed, it's overkill and that overall, it's
> better to encase the legs in concrete, protecting them from corrosion from
> that rare day in Arizona that the water levels would reach the bottom of
> the tower.  He suggests that the tower will be adequately sealed on top.
> Soil here is acidic enough that I've been advised not to let the tower
> sections touch the ground for even the short time they are stored here
> awaiting erection.  Even if some got in over the years, rainwater is
> presumably less acidic.
>
> I don't try to innovate in these matters, but I wonder who is right here.
>
> Thoughts?
>
>
> Larry WO7R
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