I hate the wind! PVC Issue

[Premier]

Geesh, you would think living on the coast I would be prepared for anything, we just had nearly 3" of rain yesterday and I have sealed, capped and otherwise secured all of our lights, controllers, string ends, extension cords, etc..and have never had a problem, however I didn't think much of the wind, we had gusts over 70 mph here late yesterday and I watched a 50' tall mega tree that I had strung from a very tall tree limb crumble to the ground. After wading through the mess and seeing our 48" star all busted up I found that the 1" Schedule 40 PVC pipe that I used as a frame to hold the lights and star up and literally snapped due to the wind. All the glue joints held ( I use Christie's Hot Glue ), half of the frame is now 50' up from the ground, this pipe literally snapped due to the wind hitting the curtain of lights that I had strung from it. Am driving to the closest big city over an hour away this morning to go find another Star and some other goodies. Hopefully I will get the show back up running tonight.

 

Just thought I would share, as we all tend to worry about rain or show but I never even considered the high winds. Oh well, live and learn.

[worksopian]

Sorry to hear that, have you thought about using aluminum instead of the pvc pipe?

[Eric walls]

I'm up the street from you in Gresham. I had about half of my roof shingles on the south side of the house tear off yesterday. I have a guy over there today doing an estimate to get them all fixed.  Have never see winds like that in a very long time. Part of my fence is also knocked down.

Ironically my 10' pvc mega tree did just fine.  The guy wires held it pretty well.

[Mr. P]

I used 2" pvc pipe last year and had the same problem, it kept snapping. So this year, being retired military I was thinking what would better? Then I thought about the antenna masts that we used on our communication rigs. I went on ebay and purchased 50' of aluminum antenna masts from a military surplus vendor for $35 and my tree is solid this year.

[uncledan]

Sorry to hear that.  I had close to 3" of rain and 60-70 mph gusts last night as well.  Thought my mega tree and pixel tree were goners.  I stayed out watching and securing things until after 11:00 when the wind died down.  63 mini trees knocked over with broken lights(each one had three stakes in them!)  Strobe lights clear full of water, all yard art blown over, etc, etc.  We haven't wind like that in 20 years.  I'm glad I spent the money on my 46" earth anchors from American Earth Anchors for my mega tree! Each one is rated for close to 10,000 lbs pullout strength.  Its not going anywhere!  Good luck getting everything going for tonight.  I'm in the same boat as you pretty much.... 

[rainyoregonchristmas]

We need to chat at NWCLAP. My aluminum designs should work better for you. And I'm close...relatively. A good excuse to make a drive.

[Ron Boyd]

Personally, I will not use PVC for anything over a 10' tree. I learned my lesson 2 years ago. My element was only 9 ft tall. I thought all of the tent pegs were out but I left one. The PVC snapped and the whole thing caught me right in the center of the melon. I use PVC for small stuff now. Even before this happened though, a 50' vertical structure made of PVC? I wouldn't use anything less than rigid conduit for that and my preference for a structure that tall would be a light truss of some sort.

I'm really sorry this happened, but I'm not surprised using, non-uv PVC, and that big of a vertical structure, I'm surprised it took a 70 mph wind to bring it down.

[wbaker4]

My first mega tree was made of PVC.  We had strong winds once and it crumpled into a pile of lights.

 

 

No more PVC!

Edited December 13, 2014 by wbaker4

[dgrant]

I'm no expert on PVC but I know it was designed for carrying water, doing so below the ground. Exposed to sun, it easily becomes briittle therefore the possibility of breakage goes way up the longer its used. We all know its cheap but cheap isn't always a good thing. I have two 15 foot megatrees, both with 1 inch black pipe and each has four 1/16th inch steel guide wires. Depending on location, my simple use might be bad too in that I've effectively got giant lightening rods out there!

[Premier]

Personally, I will not use PVC for anything over a 10' tree. I learned my lesson 2 years ago. My element was only 9 ft tall. I thought all of the tent pegs were out but I left one. The PVC snapped and the whole thing caught me right in the center of the melon. I use PVC for small stuff now. Even before this happened though, a 50' vertical structure made of PVC? I wouldn't use anything less than rigid conduit for that and my preference for a structure that tall would be a light truss of some sort. I'm really sorry this happened, but I'm not surprised using, non-uv PVC, and that big of a vertical structure, I'm surprised it took a 70 mph wind to bring it down.

No no no...My tree was not a 50' pole. I would never try to do that. I guess I didn't explain as well as I should. I have a very large Shore Pine (80-90' tall ) and about 50' up there is a huge gnarly branch jutting out about 18" thick, a rope goes from the ground, up and over the branch and back down to the ground.  I made basically a 2' square box  out of the PVC. The star gets attached to the PVC Box along with its extension cord, the ends of my strings get attached to the PVC Box, and guide wires get attached to the box ( so I can turn it and make sure that it doesn't spin in the wind ) then I hoist the entire thing up in the air using the rope. I then secure the strands to the ground. And my controller sits at the base so I can plug everything in easily. Never had an issue before.  Appreciate everyone's comments. Made a trip to the hardware store and now doing another box but this one in threaded Steel pipe, and I am adding a secondary rope/security cable as well. Can't wait to get the show back up tonight.

[Premier]

We need to chat at NWCLAP. My aluminum designs should work better for you. And I'm close...relatively. A good excuse to make a drive.

Would love to make it to a NWCLAP meeting, but unfortunately I can rarely get away from work as I own the company, and am actually required by law ( state contractors board ) that I have to be within 1 hours drive of any and all active job sites, so unless the meeting is somewhere in the Eugene area, I pretty much am screwed.

[rainyoregonchristmas]

Well, I may have use you as an excuse to take the family camping on the coast.  If you have an idea what you want, send me a PM.  I have plenty of stock on hand to prototype up anything you many need.  Always looking for an excuse to mock something else up for a prototype decoration.