Author Topic: Blake Chimney Mount or other idea for anemometer  (Read 9999 times)

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Offline ArmySlowRdr

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Blake Chimney Mount or other idea for anemometer
« on: May 25, 2013, 07:58:42 PM »
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/71045127/Blake-Ratchet-Chimney-Bracket-Fitting-Instructions---Installation

Anyone hear of this or use in an actual installation of their anemometer ?  Seems like it would be sooo much easier to use than the chimney mounts one can buy here from lowes/homedepot/ratschack.

It can also be bought with an option of larger v-bolts to accommodate the 2.375 OD mast Davis suggests.  It seems the others that can easily be found here all say 1.5 inches is the limit without mentioning whether larger bolts can be swapped out.

Only problem with this Blake branded mount is I can't seem to find it anywhere but the UK and the UK seller does not ship to US.

???  

Anyway still using my Oregon Sci 200 and still just have the anemometer 6 feet of the gound and of course my wind accuracy sucks. So would like to do it rigth and when I do I'll get the Davis VAntage PRO 2 plus wirless and with fan.

I would pull the trigger at anytime except for needing a good mounting solution for the anemometer.  The J pole two pole deal I actually bought thinking I'd put the Oregon-Sci up higher still may not be tall enough to clear peak of the house when installed on upper story plate line.  Thus I am led to believe my only option is a ten foot mast lashed to the chimney somehow....

Any ideas---and especially if the Blake would work and can be had here somewhere.... ?

Thanks.

Offline DanS

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Re: Blake Chimney Mount or other idea for anemometer
« Reply #1 on: May 25, 2013, 08:30:38 PM »
Looks similar to pallet packaging strapping. I'd bet there's something stateside similar (in price too) such as this.

Offline ArmySlowRdr

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Re: Blake Chimney Mount or other idea for anemometer
« Reply #2 on: May 25, 2013, 08:36:22 PM »
No that link is the standard us style chimney strap mount that can be readily found. I am looking for the style that seems to be a UK market item that makes use of actual heavy duty similar to military style ratchets as in my link.

Offline DaleReid

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Re: Blake Chimney Mount or other idea for anemometer
« Reply #3 on: May 25, 2013, 09:33:30 PM »
years ago there was concern about even TV antennas and especially their pre-amplifiers being mounted anywhere near where exhaust from combustion would possibly make for unfriendly conditions for the electronics when the vapors cooled and became, in effect, acid rain.  Our precious stations are so much more expensive and have temperature, humidity and barometric sensors in some cases, right there in the sensor package. 

Is this chimney dormant and no longer used?

What is being exhausted?  Fuel oil furnace, or natural gas, or even wood from a fireplace?

What about the heat from the exhaust during heating season?  I know some natural gas heaters are exceptionally efficient, but look around during sub zero temps to see all the 'steam' rising from chimneys.  Is this going to affect  the accuracy of your station?

Just playing devil's advocate here.

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Offline ArmySlowRdr

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Re: Blake Chimney Mount or other idea for anemometer
« Reply #4 on: May 25, 2013, 11:09:38 PM »
Here in Central Texas chimney is just for show; this past winter was in fact no-show.

Offline DaleReid

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Re: Blake Chimney Mount or other idea for anemometer
« Reply #5 on: May 26, 2013, 10:05:37 AM »
You wouldn't believe how many cords of wood I split, stacked and burned this last winter.

And my summer air conditioning is not too good either, so I hope you're winning out by not buying heat in the winter time months.
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Offline ArmySlowRdr

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Re: Blake Chimney Mount or other idea for anemometer
« Reply #6 on: May 26, 2013, 11:27:11 AM »

The AC cost in the summertime can be high with all our successive over 100 degree days !

Quote
You wouldn't believe how many cords of wood I split, stacked and burned this last winter.

And my summer air conditioning is not too good either, so I hope you're winning out by not buying heat in the winter time months.

Well after thinking about this for hours yesterday and even crawling around outside a bit I have decided even a ten foot mast on the chimney will not get it above the peak of the roof--
I think I will just see if one of these local general contractors that advertise more toward handyman will be willing to get it done by just sinking it into the ground.

Offline Weather Spares

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Re: Blake Chimney Mount or other idea for anemometer
« Reply #7 on: May 26, 2013, 05:48:40 PM »
I've used one of these strapped around the pot of the chimney. It was installed last may some 10m up, and then there is a further 1m pole above the pot height.

The chimney it's attached to is unused, so I have no problems with heat deteriorating the strapping. It's extremely tough stuff and I had to use a pair of metal shears to cut it to length. Although it's only been a year, it hasn't moved at all and has suffered 50mph winds, -12C to +32C in the UK weather. Being an old house, the chimney stack itself is 120cm x 50cm so the pot was the only option to get the anemometer up high enough and secure enough without it being a blot on the house for the other half.

Would highly recommend them.

Hopefully this will give some idea of the mount...
Weather Spares - your one stop shop for complete stations, accessories and spare parts for Davis Instruments, Ecowitt, Oregon Scientific, TFA, Ventus, GARNI and many more - https://www.weatherspares.co.uk/ offering global shipping of products.

Davis Vantage Pro 2 plus 24 hour FARS, Meteobridge NANO SD data logger, Davis AirLink, remote Davis anemometer rooftop mounted.
Location 95m altitude, West of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, UK.


Offline BigOkie

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Re: Blake Chimney Mount or other idea for anemometer
« Reply #8 on: May 26, 2013, 08:02:55 PM »
This is what I'm doing.



It's a 20' telescoping flagpole with 5 four foot segments.  Made from 10 gauge aircraft aluminum.  Anemometer will be on the top..mounting a 1.5 EMC pipe on a standoff for the ISS.

I know, it's not 33 feet.  But it will be higher than my current one probably by about 2 or 3 feet.

Just put the mast in this afternoon.  Waiting for the quikrete to cure up and I should have the station live by tomorrow afternoon or evening.
Current setup: Davis Vantage Pro 2 Plus Wireless
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Offline SlowModem

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Re: Blake Chimney Mount or other idea for anemometer
« Reply #9 on: May 26, 2013, 08:13:24 PM »
That looks very sturdy!
Greg Whitehead
Ten Mile, TN USA

Offline ArmySlowRdr

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Re: Blake Chimney Mount or other idea for anemometer
« Reply #10 on: May 27, 2013, 07:34:22 PM »

Yup, looks great. The telescoping Rhodes or similar is what I am thinking I will get too once I order the Davis. 

Can you please post a photo to this thread when you get the stand off pipe mounted with the ISS to the mast.  I have been wondering about that and know someone before posted like a dual u-bolt contraption joined together somehow but I can't find.  The telescoping masts get pretty small in diameter the higher they go.

Most likely I will pull the trigger before the summers out. It has been too wet over the weekend to mountain bike here in central Teas (haha I know--we dont have mountains--just small hills) so I have been playing with the weather station software and website over the long 3 and a half day gov't weekend.  Changed to Cumulus software. Changed some code on my page and changed some code on Cumulus templates to get it posted to my site how I like (basically involved changing the file name "index" to "cumulus" on all the pages. Looking forward to evenutally retiring the Oregon Sci 200 and going with the best Davis.  :grin:

This is what I'm doing.

It's a 20' telescoping flagpole with 5 four foot segments.  .......Anemometer will be on the top..mounting a 1.5 EMC pipe on a standoff for the ISS.
......

Offline BigOkie

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Re: Blake Chimney Mount or other idea for anemometer
« Reply #11 on: May 27, 2013, 11:14:52 PM »

Yup, looks great. The telescoping Rhodes or similar is what I am thinking I will get too once I order the Davis. 

Can you please post a photo to this thread when you get the stand off pipe mounted with the ISS to the mast.  I have been wondering about that and know someone before posted like a dual u-bolt contraption joined together somehow but I can't find.  The telescoping masts get pretty small in diameter the higher they go.

Most likely I will pull the trigger before the summers out. It has been too wet over the weekend to mountain bike here in central Teas (haha I know--we dont have mountains--just small hills) so I have been playing with the weather station software and website over the long 3 and a half day gov't weekend.  Changed to Cumulus software. Changed some code on my page and changed some code on Cumulus templates to get it posted to my site how I like (basically involved changing the file name "index" to "cumulus" on all the pages. Looking forward to evenutally retiring the Oregon Sci 200 and going with the best Davis.  :grin:

This is what I'm doing.

It's a 20' telescoping flagpole with 5 four foot segments.  .......Anemometer will be on the top..mounting a 1.5 EMC pipe on a standoff for the ISS.
......

I actually used about 12 inches of Superstrut/Unistrut and bolted it back to back, using two pipe straps to strap to the mast, then two more on a little smaller sized pole (EMC) then I mounted the ISS to it.

Here are the final five shots of my build out (completed this afternoon):

Live data!



Here's the mast and ISS pre-cleanup



Shot of the anemometer at the top of the mast



A couple of shots of the ISS:






If you need any more help with visualizing this, let me know.  My data is now live on WU and CWOP (I'm using Cumulus right now).  You can get to WU from the banner in my sig (I know, it's a little outdated).
Current setup: Davis Vantage Pro 2 Plus Wireless
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Sangean CL-100
Uniden Home Patrol I

Offline SlowModem

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Re: Blake Chimney Mount or other idea for anemometer
« Reply #12 on: May 27, 2013, 11:22:55 PM »
Looks good!  Enjoy it!  :)
Greg Whitehead
Ten Mile, TN USA

Offline cospringswx

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Re: Blake Chimney Mount or other idea for anemometer
« Reply #13 on: May 27, 2013, 11:48:23 PM »
Great job man! Looks Great!




Ryan 

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Offline ArmySlowRdr

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Re: Blake Chimney Mount or other idea for anemometer
« Reply #14 on: May 28, 2013, 12:00:47 AM »
Yes that looks very good--I was just checking out tele-pole website.  Very good shipping compared to what it takes to get a much cheaper (quality wise too I bet) Rhone telescoping antemma mast sent.
Hmmm 30 or 40 dollars shipping versus 140 dollars.

Let me know about sway....  If you can confirm sway is minimum I will probably pull the trigger on a pole and new Davis soon. Likely I will go right in middle of yard or near house so maybe I can bracket lower sections.  Yard is too small to make the use of long guy wires practical. Yes just looking at your photos more I see your yard is limited too and power lines nearby. Sounds just like the situation I'm in. Reason chimney mount is no go far me is I have a split-level (top story only half size as lower)--chimney sits toward the lower. So therefore a ten foot pole would not clear peak of house. Thus the need for 25 or 30 foot...
« Last Edit: May 28, 2013, 12:05:28 AM by ArmySlowRdr »

Offline BigOkie

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Re: Blake Chimney Mount or other idea for anemometer
« Reply #15 on: May 28, 2013, 12:43:47 AM »
Yes that looks very good--I was just checking out tele-pole website.  Very good shipping compared to what it takes to get a much cheaper (quality wise too I bet) Rhone telescoping antemma mast sent.
Hmmm 30 or 40 dollars shipping versus 140 dollars.

Let me know about sway....  If you can confirm sway is minimum I will probably pull the trigger on a pole and new Davis soon. Likely I will go right in middle of yard or near house so maybe I can bracket lower sections.  Yard is too small to make the use of long guy wires practical. Yes just looking at your photos more I see your yard is limited too and power lines nearby. Sounds just like the situation I'm in. Reason chimney mount is no go far me is I have a split-level (top story only half size as lower)--chimney sits toward the lower. So therefore a ten foot pole would not clear peak of house. Thus the need for 25 or 30 foot...

There is a little sway in it, but it was pretty windy today.  I'd say at most maybe four inches either way and it wasn't real violent.  More sway with gusty winds..not so much with steady.
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Offline BigOkie

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Re: Blake Chimney Mount or other idea for anemometer
« Reply #16 on: May 29, 2013, 08:11:25 PM »
Following up to my own post, for those interested, I have newer photos up that have descriptions and better detail as to what I did.  Clicking on the photos will take you to the Flickr page where I detail it out.









There are more than just these, but wanted to limit the photos embedded so as to not make it too incredibly bandwidth intensive.

As always, I'll answer any questions.  I'm just happy to get this thing running after having it in boxes since the first week of May.
Current setup: Davis Vantage Pro 2 Plus Wireless
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Sangean CL-100
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Offline ArmySlowRdr

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Re: Blake Chimney Mount or other idea for anemometer
« Reply #17 on: May 29, 2013, 11:52:46 PM »
Thanks for posting those. I ordered the 25 foot telescoping from tele-pole last night. 

Offline ArmySlowRdr

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Arrival of pole and Davis..
« Reply #18 on: June 05, 2013, 12:05:02 AM »
The tele-pole AND the package from rainman arrived today !  :grin:

And the surveyor came and marked the utilities lines etc and the fence replacement project starts tomorrow.

The fence guys will also install my tele-pole. Telepole will sport the anemometer and a custom weather flag in lower position. Still working on the flag with a shop in Austin.

The temp/humid/rainbucket will go on my cocorahs post.

Sometime within the next several days to few weeks I imagine I will have the Davis fired up and data being gathered by Cumulus.

Offline SlowModem

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Re: Arrival of pole and Davis..
« Reply #19 on: June 05, 2013, 02:10:54 AM »
The tele-pole AND the package from rainman arrived today !  :grin:

My first impression was, "It's Big!"   :shock:
Greg Whitehead
Ten Mile, TN USA

Offline BigOkie

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Re: Arrival of pole and Davis..
« Reply #20 on: June 05, 2013, 06:40:41 AM »
The tele-pole AND the package from rainman arrived today !  :grin:

My first impression was, "It's Big!"   :shock:

The way they package it, yes...in a triangle shaped long box.  Well at least mine was.  I got the 20 foot.
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Offline ArmySlowRdr

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Re: Blake Chimney Mount or other idea for anemometer
« Reply #21 on: June 05, 2013, 08:31:05 AM »
Yup mine came in a long triangular box and is heavy at more than 30 pounds for sure. Out of the box, collapssed, it will stand up in the living room. Got the 25 ft type.

Offline SlowModem

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Re: Blake Chimney Mount or other idea for anemometer
« Reply #22 on: June 05, 2013, 01:10:35 PM »
Yup mine came in a long triangular box and is heavy at more than 30 pounds for sure. Out of the box, collapssed, it will stand up in the living room. Got the 25 ft type.

LOL  I was referring to the weather station.   #-o
Greg Whitehead
Ten Mile, TN USA

Offline ArmySlowRdr

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Re: Blake Chimney Mount or other idea for anemometer
« Reply #23 on: June 05, 2013, 01:20:10 PM »
lol. Well yeah the box it came in was large too and sturdily double boxed.  :-)

Offline ArmySlowRdr

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Re: Blake Chimney Mount or other idea for anemometer
« Reply #24 on: June 08, 2013, 08:10:39 PM »
After today's 45 mile Gatesville Fire Ant cycling event I came home and put together the DAvis and installed. Also put the tele-pole up !

Likely will get the data live on my site in the next few days--could be tonight--more likely tomorrow night...   After all's well I'll dismantle the OS 200.

 

anything