Friday, October 13, 2017

Because We're Soooo Unique, That's Why

     Crew Chief for the team greasing the guy wires* on the very tall tower for which I am responsible:

     "I don't know what it is about you people in Indianapolis. Everyplace else in the country where we work, they just toss us the keys and say, 'Let us know when you're done.'  We come here, and we've worked on almost every tall tower in Indy, and every one of 'em, they have to have someone there all the time we're working.  You Indianapolis people don't want us to have keys, or gate codes or anything!"

     Guess it's just that good old Hoosier diligence.  Or paranoia -- random vandalism, from mild to theft of all outdoor air-conditioning equipment, has a long history at towers here.  Me, I just do what my bosses tell me to do along those lines.
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* "But why grease them," you might wonder, "do they squeak?"  They do not, or no more than necessary; what they do is rust.  Unless you do something, the heavy wire rope accumulates water and rusts from the inside out.  That could ruin your whole day, or at least mine. You can't paint them but a nice, thick coat of heavy grease, well packed in, makes a good barrier to the entry of water.  The downside is, it has to be renewed every few years.  This is best done during very hot weather but it doesn't always work out that way.

10 comments:

Fuzzy Curmudgeon said...

Having looked at some of the horror pics from transmitter sites around the country, I suspect the local transmitter sites are a lot better maintained than most, too.

All that due diligence, y'know. ;-)

Fuzzy Curmudgeon said...

PS: The guys probably do sing a bit, when the wind is just right :)

Jac said...

Definitely not hot in Indy the last few days... your city is lovely right now, though.

Drang said...

I was so sure there was going to be a "sending the new guy for Squelch Grease" joke in there...

Jerry said...

Thank you for an interesting subject this morning. I was unaware that wire ropes required periodic treatment to prevent corrosion failure. It makes sense.

Roberta X said...

Fuzzy, this crew doesn't seem to be musical at all. ;)

Chuck Pergiel said...

On Wikipedias list of tall stuff, there are at least three towers that aren't there anymore on account of collapsing. Failure to grease?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_structures

Roberta X said...

Oh, there are plenty of reasons. The calculations for wind-loading alone are up to Revision G: skirt too close to the older limits and steel may fail before the math thinks it should. Accidents during tower work are another and nearly always tragic cause of collapse; look up the Senior Road Tower, for example.

The non-zero risk of accidents during tower work are another possible reason for the "Toss them the keys and wait until they're done" approach some tower owners take. I think it's at least cowardly if not coldly callous.

rickn8or said...

What Jerry said. And yet another job field that I'm glad other people do, because I'm convinced grabbity has a personal vendetta against me. Right up there with painting water towers.

markm said...

Chuck: Some of the collapses are due to aircraft crashing into the towers. My uncle was a tech on a tower in North Dakota that was brought down like this, back in the 60's. I think it was the KRDK-TV mast.