[TowerTalk] Experience with Sacrificial Zinc?

[Richard Smith]

 Hi Grant,
Thanks for your response. At our station in PJ4, the Hot Dipped Galvanizing is holding up well, but some parts are Electro-Galvanized and are already corroding. Part of the problem is erosion from trade winds, which seems to wear down the Electro-Galvanizing, which then exposes the base metal to a corrosive environment. Specifically, the Orion rotor drive plates and mast clamps seem susceptible to the erosion and the subsequent corrosion.
I was wondering if attaching a piece of zinc metal directly to those specific parts would slow down the corrosion. The team is looking at changes to help this situation in the future, but I'm also trying to find a quicker solution for the parts that are already installed.
The black tar coating followed by PVC tape sounds like a very good solution for buried parts.
73, Rich, N6KT
    On Sunday, August 8, 2021, 05:11:51 PM PDT, Grant Saviers <grants2 at pacbell.net> wrote:  
 
 The MIL-HDBK-419A talks a little about this topic.  Adding Zn electrodes 
to a galvanized tower creates a parallel circuit, not clear which will 
go first IMO.  Impressed voltage systems are probably a better option. 
google it.

I black tar coated my galvanized guy anchor rods and then wrapped them 
with 20mil 2" wide PVC tape for abrasion resistance to 2 feet above 
grade, same as done for black iron gas pipes that are buried.  Should 
last longer than me.

Grant KZ1W

On 8/8/2021 16:30, Richard Smith wrote:
> Hi Tower Talkers,
> It seems that sacrificial zinc is commonly used in boating to stop corrosion. The sacrificial zinc corrodes and "saves" the metal to which it is attached.
> Does anyone in TowerTalk land have experience with using sacrificial zinc with towers and/or antennas?
> 73, Rich, N6KT
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