Base: Blowing up the pic, the bottom section has about 5 - 6 feet sticking above the concrete. If they used 10' sections, 4' should be in the ground ? (determined by counting the sections) I will sweep the leaves away and get a better pic.
Attached to the house: NO (just the power and coax cables) Its Free-standing. Climber wearing a harness: Yes I was !
On 8/4/2020 7:03 AM, snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote: ...
As noted; it's _probably_ ok, question is how to prove it a priori.
It's a risk; just how much of one is the uncertain part. _Probably_ pretty low, but 40 years is a long time and there's just no way to really know what condition it is in.
I'm particularly aware at the moment as a friend and neighbor was killed by a fall of less than 10-ft in his shed going after a stored doll crib for granddaughter a year or so ago...if it were to fail, there may be no second chance.
The risk may be low but unless you can figure out some way to really quantify it the cowardly approach would be the one I'd opt for.
To me it's a relatively low gain (saving a little cash out of pocket to rent the lift) versus an awfully high cost if the improbable event were to occur.
OK, Option 3: Looking the picture, the deck in the view is only 1 year old the the base of the floor structure of the deck is only about 15" from the antenna. What if I added bracing from the deck to the antenna to preventing is from flexing under the load of someone climbing it ? The bracing could be temporary, in the event that during storms the antenna would try to flex and rip the deck off the house ?
I look at it this way. If you were still the 20-year old version of yourself, would you hesitate to climb the tower? Probably not, so the answer is obvious. Find a 20-something to climb the tower. Keep it in the family to reduce the legal liability. A son/grandson/nephew would be ideal.
My family would hang my ass out if I did that ! Probably smart enough not to do it anyway !
Lot simpler and safer to use a bucket truck or bucket lift if its convenient to get it there.
Trouble with that approach if that if they come off the tower and get killed, how would you feel then ?
Found a bucket trailer for rent at $250 a day ? (50' reach) is that reasonable, or should I keep looking ?
What's a day in the hospital (or month)?
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A place in Lincoln, NE rents one for the same price. Wouldn't the best answer to your question be to do a search for rental places near you? Your relatives will sleep better if you spend the $250. I'd just about bet you can use it for something else once you have it.
The lift is near me, $250 all day or $185 for 4 hours.
How much does it weigh? The neighborhood handyman pruned the trees last year and rented a massive, self-propelled lift. I've no idea what it grossed but it left 6" deep ruts in the lawn, something a normal pickup never did. He filled the ruts this spring and I seeded them but I can still feel the bump with the lawnmower.
My old JLG 40H weighs about 12,500 lb; a newish 400H 4WD is closer to
14-15,000 lb.The towables are from about 3,000 - 6,000 lb depending on model and height. A 50-ft Genie is about 5K I believe
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It wasn't either of those but that's the general idea. Some of the limbs were getting close to the power line, but that was a little overkill for the job. He's a nice guy but I think there was a little 'Ooh, ooh, new toy!' factored in when he went to the rental place. I walk by there during lunch sometimes and they have some less tank-like lifts.
They're all pretty close to the same, Genie, JLG, SkyTrak for similar-sized units. There is more variability in the tow type because there are really lightweight units all the way to the JLG/Genie HD ones that can be pretty stout.
JLG has a 50/60 footer now on a 65 mph towing rig... :) I suppose Genie probably has similar but haven't seen it.
That's a potentially dangerous task with a manlift -- the buckets in them are NOT isolated like on a electric utility service truck boom. All it takes is one oops! with them.
That said, I bought this one (eBay for $5K) some 10-15 years ago when started to re-roof the old barn. It was a game changer then and has continued to be...we've repainted the house several years ago (2-story + attic), then completely resided it and did a lot of other restoration work this past year plus the tree-trimming and any number of other tasks am just not up to getting on a ladder for any more...including putting the power line back up (3rd time, now, need to get it buried) after t-storm took down a branch...it's just a branch feeder to the old shop, though, so can isolate it to work on; don't have to try to do it live.
And, is only 240V, not the POCO line...
They make all kinds. Some are tow behind small trailer deals with a simple straight boom others are fully self propelled and articulated. Tree guys like the latter because they can move around the tree and come at the limb they want from any angle.
On Sat, 1 Aug 2020 19:54:43 -0700 (PDT), snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com posted for all of us to digest...
I have read all the replies. I agree you should rent the lift. Things to think about are: Will the tower survive the additional wind load of the antenna and coax? The existing antenna appears to max out the capacity. It looks like you have a rotator, will the new antenna interfere? Have you noticed how the tower behaves when the wind ramps up? I do not know where you live but you must consider ice loading on it too. The lift will assist in attaching the coax and antenna. The lift can also be used to check/clean your gutters and inspect your roof and other jobs that I can't think of. A tree co was a good suggestion too.
I am an old geezer so count me out. Please be safe.
What about this unit:
I wouldn't bother. If an airplane is flying that low, even if it doesn't hit the tower, it's probably going to crash anyway... ;)
I was able to get some more pics of the tower where it enters the concrete base:
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