Home Owner's Association

[xairbusdriver]

What weather station? But how did you get that big bird to sit on the top of your flag pole long enough to get a picture?! Seriously, I don't see how anyone could complain! Of course, there is always that 4.29 percent...

We had someone at our church want to have a huge flag pole mounted, there was a free one offered by the people who were demolishing an old shopping mall, that pole is 35' tall and has at least six feet of it in the ground. My only concern was who would take care of the flags in really windy conditions. Wind is the most damaging weather on any flag. Since I was less than a quarter of a mile away, guess who ended up caring for the flag? Frankly, I doubt that even half the congregation even knows there is a flag there. Enough ranting, just encouraging you to take the flag down when gusts over 30 mph are forecast. And, please, surf over to the Presidential Proclamations web site to be sure you honor half-staff notices, even if you aren't a government facility. It's our Nations flag, after all. 

If the 'super glue' ever breaks lose, I'd suggest drilling through the joints so you can run a ?" bolt and nut. Assuming the pole walls are sufficiently thick, that should take care of the twisting without weakening the pole. Even a very small hole at one spot with a small, self-threading screw might be enough. 

[Bull Winkus]

Or a cotter pin.

Nice setup, ddrankin! Congratulations on a job well done!

[ddrankin]

My flag pole solution worked well for several months.  Several of the neighbors took to time to tell me how much they enjoyed the flag and my neighbor behind me even said that seeing the flag flying played a part when they chose their lot because they are both in the military and they can see it from their bedroom window in the morning.

But the question of how much wind it could take was answered a few weeks ago.  We had a summer thunderstorm and the station recorded a 51 MPH wind gust.  The wind was strong enough to blow over a block fence a short distance away.  The pole did not completely fail, but every part of it is bent in some way and the cement mounting is now loose in the ground.  The pole had about a 10 degree tilt before I took it down.  I was at work when the storm hit, so I was unable to take down the flag which I think would have prevented most of the damage.

So now I ponder my options.  Stronger poles are out there and a larger mounting hole to hold more cement would have helped.  And I think that I may very well go with a Vantage Pro so I can just mount the wind speed and direction instruments at the top and mount the other, heaver ones on a shorter separate pole.

[Blicj11]

Sorry for the problem, but your thinking is sound. Separating the anemometer is a good solution. I did that last summer, after mounting them together for 7 years. The other nice thing about having the ISS unit mounted lower is that it is much easier to access it for maintenance, changing the battery, cleaning out and applying Rain-X in the collector cup, etc.

[elagache]

Dear Devin, Blick, and WeatherCat station design consultants, . . .

My flag pole solution worked well for several months. 

. . . .

But the question of how much wind it could take was answered a few weeks ago. 

. . .
The pole did not completely fail, but every part of it is bent in some way and the cement mounting is now loose in the ground. 

I was afraid that this might happen to you.  Flagpoles are designed to take the load of a - flag.  With everyone trying to squeeze the most out of the minimum of material, it is unlikely that flagpoles available to today have the conservative construction to take the additional weight of a Vantage Vue.

I was at work when the storm hit, so I was unable to take down the flag which I think would have prevented most of the damage.

Yes, the flag causes the greatest drag and perhaps removing the flag would have avoiding damaging the pole.  However, if you have a pole designed for the wind conditions in your area, then the flag by itself should have done no damage.

So now I ponder my options.  Stronger poles are out there and a larger mounting hole to hold more cement would have helped.  And I think that I may very well go with a Vantage Pro so I can just mount the wind speed and direction instruments at the top and mount the other, heaver ones on a shorter separate pole.

I second Blick's comments.  There is an example of a house in our neighborhood using a flagpole to support the VP-2 anemometer.   It is described here:

http://athena.trixology.com/index.php?topic=1654.msg14446#msg14446

Here is a photo showing the flagpole and the anemometer on top:



That represents so much smaller of a obstacle than your Vantage Vue did.  Any flagpole that is robust enough to take the flag shouldn't have any trouble having the anemometer on top.  This particular installation stiffened the pole by securing it to the house.  If that's an option in your case that's is a further defense against flexing.

Best of luck getting your station back up and running! 

Cheers, Edouard