Re: [RE-wrenches] guyed tilt up tower suggestions

[John Blittersdorf]

Wind Wrenchers,
I have been searching the internet extensively in search of a
replacement and improvement for the Bergey XL.1.  Now that they are no
longer available, I have stooped to looking at anything that spins, looks
like the blades may stay on, a company that has been around for awhile, has
at least 5 reviews, and has a decent power curve.  So far I have found
two.  The SuperWind 1kw made in Germany is a strong, well made unit,
designed for mountaintop communications sites. Power production is modest
but it has survived two winters atop a 2800' mountain in Vermont.  As the
site is solar and generator powered and load is a modest 350 watts 24/7, it
has done very well reducing the generator time and saving lots of propane
and ATV or snowmobile trips up the mountain with 100 lb cylinders.  We have
it on a 45'  4" diameter tilt up tower custom made from Bergey and NRG
tower parts. The only problem has been icing events where we have seen up
to 2 weeks with no wind power after an icing event.  The nacelle and nose
cone clearance is paper thin, where ice can collect.  The unit is all white
so maybe a dark color would have melted off sooner.  Price for just the
turbine, controller and dump load was around $7 or $8K.
  The other one I just ordered and hope it works.  It is a 1000 watt
TUMO-INT 3 blade furling tail 48v turbine with controller and dump load.
The power curve is slightly better than the XL.1  It was on sale on Amazon
for $999.00.  I should have it in 3 weeks and will report if it works.  It
is about the same weight as the Bergey XL.1.  I have an 85' NRG tilt up
tower on the ground waiting for a new turbine.  I had a PIKA 1.6kw for a
year and a half and it worked great but had to sell it to one of my
customers when PIKA stopped making them.  It is still running fine at my
customers place.
   What I really want is for the PIKA to be put back in production.  It was
a perfect off grid supplement with no issues that I could see.

John Blittersdorf

NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer™



CV Wind Service (and solar)

200 West Road

N Chittenden, VT 05763

802-770-8625

www.offgridvermont.com



On Fri, Apr 2, 2021 at 1:56 AM Chris Worcester 
wrote:

> Hi Chris,
>
> Lake Michigan Wind & Sun made a really good tilt up using 5” pipe sourced
> locally with their engineered tower kit. Not cheap but you got what you
> paid for!
>
>
>
> Chris Worcester
>
> Solar Wind Works
>
> NABCEP PV Installation Professional
>
> Cell 530-448-9692
>
> www.solarwindworks.com
>
> ch...@solarwindworks.com
>
>
>
> *From:* RE-wrenches  *On
> Behalf Of *Chris Schaefer
> *Sent:* Thursday, April 01, 2021 11:43 AM
> *To:* RE-wrenches 
> *Subject:* [RE-wrenches] guyed tilt up tower suggestions
>
>
>
> G'day All,
>
>
>
> We don't seem to see much on wind these days on the wrenches, so now is
> the time to blow out some of the cobwebs. Anyway, I'm getting dragged
> kicking and screaming into a Missouri Raptor 7 blade Freedom 1.6kw offgrid
> wind project and in search of a tilt up tower. Back in the day it would
> have come from SWWP but now I haven't a clue. The client already purchased
> the turbine but if you have any experience with this unit and things to be
> aware of that would be appreciated as well. System voltage is 48vdc.
>
>
>
> Stay healthy my friends,
>
> Christopher-
>
> Chris Schaefer’s
> <http://www.solarandwindfx.com>
>
> *Tel/Fax 585-229-2083 or Cell 585-748-1870 *
> *5115 South Hill Road ~ Canandaigua New York 14424www.solarandwindfx.com
> <http://www.solarandwindfx.com> ~ E-mail: **ch...@solarandwindfx.com
> *
>
> Thomas Jefferson, the author of our great Constitution, once said,
> "democracy" will cease to exist when you take away from those who are
> willing to work and give to those who would not."
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Re: [RE-wrenches] guyed tilt up tower suggestions

[Chris Worcester]

Hi Chris,

Lake Michigan Wind & Sun made a really good tilt up using 5” pipe sourced 
locally with their engineered tower kit. Not cheap but you got what you paid 
for! 

 

Chris Worcester

Solar Wind Works

NABCEP PV Installation Professional

Cell 530-448-9692

www.solarwindworks.com

ch...@solarwindworks.com

 

From: RE-wrenches  On Behalf Of 
Chris Schaefer
Sent: Thursday, April 01, 2021 11:43 AM
To: RE-wrenches 
Subject: [RE-wrenches] guyed tilt up tower suggestions

 

G'day All,

 

We don't seem to see much on wind these days on the wrenches, so now is the 
time to blow out some of the cobwebs. Anyway, I'm getting dragged kicking and 
screaming into a Missouri Raptor 7 blade Freedom 1.6kw offgrid wind project and 
in search of a tilt up tower. Back in the day it would have come from SWWP but 
now I haven't a clue. The client already purchased the turbine but if you have 
any experience with this unit and things to be aware of that would be 
appreciated as well. System voltage is 48vdc.

 

Stay healthy my friends,

Christopher-

Chris Schaefer’s
 <http://www.solarandwindfx.com> 
Tel/Fax 585-229-2083 or Cell 585-748-1870 
5115 South Hill Road ~ Canandaigua New York 14424
www.solarandwindfx.com <http://www.solarandwindfx.com>  ~ E-mail: 
ch...@solarandwindfx.com <mailto:ch...@solarandwindfx.com> 

  <http://solarandwindfx.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/certs.jpg> 

Thomas Jefferson, the author of our great Constitution, once said, "democracy" 
will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and 
give to those who would not."

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Re: [RE-wrenches] guyed tilt up tower suggestions

[Jerry Shafer]

Wrenches
Depending on the height, I've used street lamp poles, and rig them with a
Jin pole to put them up.
Jerry

On Thu, Apr 1, 2021, 11:43 AM Chris Schaefer 
wrote:

> G'day All,
>
> We don't seem to see much on wind these days on the wrenches, so now is
> the time to blow out some of the cobwebs. Anyway, I'm getting dragged
> kicking and screaming into a Missouri Raptor 7 blade Freedom 1.6kw
> offgrid wind project and in search of a tilt up tower. Back in the day it
> would have come from SWWP but now I haven't a clue. The client already
> purchased the turbine but if you have any experience with this unit and
> things to be aware of that would be appreciated as well. System voltage is
> 48vdc.
>
> Stay healthy my friends,
> Christopher-
>
> Chris Schaefer’s
> 
>
> *Tel/Fax 585-229-2083 or Cell 585-748-1870 *
> *5115 South Hill Road ~ Canandaigua New York 14424**www.solarandwindfx.com
>  ~ E-mail: ch...@solarandwindfx.com
> *
>
>
> Thomas Jefferson, the author of our great Constitution, once said,
> "democracy" will cease to exist when you take away from those who are
> willing to work and give to those who would not."
> ___
> List sponsored by Redwood Alliance
>
> List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org
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Re: [RE-wrenches] guyed tilt up tower suggestions

[Dan Fink]

Jay; The fuzzy definition of "small" in most customer's minds makes it hard
to answer the question.
I absolutely recommend anything by Bergey, but their "smallest" is 10kW,
well within the industry definition of small, but pretty huge and expensive
for the typical off-grid residential home.

I would feel fairly comfortable with turbines certified by the Small Wind
Certification Council (https://smallwindcertification.org/) but they don't
gather long-term reliability data. There's a 5kW turbine listed that I
hadn't heard of before, and the Skystream 3.7kW (which was bought by a
different company than the Whisper series.) The SWWP Whispers were decent
machines, but I'm not sure why they are not listed there by the new company
owner. For remote off-grid situations without AHJ issues, lots of folks
have had good results with Hugh Piggott-style turbines, and there are
people out there that make and install them well. But they are not a
commercial product, not UL listed or AHJ-friendly, etc.,

I don't know anything about the Hurricane turbines that Dan Lepinski
mentions in this thread, but certainly worth checking out. And maybe dive a
little deeper into what's up with the Whispers under their new owner.

Rohn towers are a great solution, but as Dan L mentions they are not
tilt-up.

Dan Fink
Owner, Buckville Energy Consulting LLC
IREC Certified Instructor for PV and Small Wind Installation
NABCEP Certified PV System Inspector
NABCEP PV Associate
d anbo...@gmail.com
970-672-4342




On Thu, Apr 1, 2021 at 2:48 PM Jay  wrote:

> Hi Dan
>
> Are there any wind machines you would recommend?
>
> Jay
> Peltz Power
>
>
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Re: [RE-wrenches] guyed tilt up tower suggestions

[Jay]

Hi Dan

Are there any wind machines you would recommend?

Jay
Peltz Power

> On Apr 1, 2021, at 1:34 PM, Dan Fink  wrote:
> 
> 
> Chris; I would be kicking and screaming regarding installation of anything 
> provided by that company, including their turbines, controllers, and 
> diversion load heaters. They don't seem to have a grasp on even the basic 
> concepts of successful small wind installations. They don't provide power 
> curves or performance data, and don't seem to understand the physics behind 
> how the number of blades, tip speed ratios, etc. relate to output 
> performance. That "1.6 kW" turbine your customer wants has only a 5-foot 
> diameter rotor! 1.6 kW in a 60 mph wind maybe.
> 
> How tall does the tower need to be to get at least 30 feet above any 
> obstructions within 500 feet, and will the system need AHJ permits? Anything 
> under 40 feet is a waste of the homeowner's money. 
> 
> You can get steel tower coupling sections fabricated and use standard steel 
> tubing (NOT pipe) for the tower sections. These are easy to work with, and I 
> have even seen them approved and wet stamped by engineers, up to ~80 feet 
> anyway. (photo attached)
> 
> SWWP used to sell metal couplers to fit standard pipe, which made for a 
> noodly tower, but it was OK, and engineered that way, and has engineering 
> drawings. Not sure if anyone still makes those, perhaps the Indian company 
> that bought out SWWP's designs? I'm guessing you have a DIY type homeowner 
> and that they won't want a tall tower (sigh).
> 
> Another option is surplus NRG towers, which have swaged ends that slide 
> together, and guy wire rings that slide over the joints. I've seen these 
> successfully fly fairly large turbines approaching 150 feet tower height. Not 
> engineer-stamped for that application though, they are MET towers. And 
> probably WAY more sturdy and expensive than what you need for that dinky "1.6 
> kW" turbine.
> 
> If you can't decline the job, I'd go with couplers, either fabricated with 
> and for steel tubing, or those SWWP couplers if you can find them.
> 
> Dan Fink
> Owner, Buckville Energy Consulting LLC
> IREC Certified Instructor for PV and Small Wind Installation
> NABCEP Certified PV System Inspector
> NABCEP PV Associate
> danbo...@gmail.com
> 970-672-4342
> 
>  
> 
> 
>> On Thu, Apr 1, 2021 at 12:43 PM Chris Schaefer  
>> wrote:
>> G'day All,
>> 
>> We don't seem to see much on wind these days on the wrenches, so now is the 
>> time to blow out some of the cobwebs. Anyway, I'm getting dragged kicking 
>> and screaming into a Missouri Raptor 7 blade Freedom 1.6kw offgrid wind 
>> project and in search of a tilt up tower. Back in the day it would have come 
>> from SWWP but now I haven't a clue. The client already purchased the turbine 
>> but if you have any experience with this unit and things to be aware of that 
>> would be appreciated as well. System voltage is 48vdc.
>> 
>> Stay healthy my friends,
>> Christopher-
>> Chris Schaefer’s
>> 
>> Tel/Fax 585-229-2083 or Cell 585-748-1870 
>> 5115 South Hill Road ~ Canandaigua New York 14424
>> www.solarandwindfx.com ~ E-mail: ch...@solarandwindfx.com
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Thomas Jefferson, the author of our great Constitution, once said, 
>> "democracy" will cease to exist when you take away from those who are 
>> willing to work and give to those who would not."
>> 
>> ___
>> List sponsored by Redwood Alliance
>> 
>> List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org
>> 
>> Change listserver email address & settings:
>> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>> 
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>> other:
>> https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/
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>> 
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> 
> 
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Re: [RE-wrenches] guyed tilt up tower suggestions

[Glenn Burt]

Hi Christopher,Texas Towers is a company that handles a lot of towers for 
amateur radio use, and may be able to help you out, or refer you to 
another.Good luck!-GlennSent from my 'smart'phone, so please excuse typos and 
spelling errors.-- Original message--From: Chris SchaeferDate: Thu, Apr 
1, 2021 2:43 PMTo: RE-wrenches;Cc: Subject:[RE-wrenches] guyed tilt up tower 
suggestionsG'day All,We don't seem to see much on wind these days on the 
wrenches, so now is the time to blow out some of the cobwebs. Anyway, I'm 
getting dragged kicking and screaming into a Missouri Raptor 7 blade Freedom 
1.6kw offgrid wind project and in search of a tilt up tower. Back in the day it 
would have come from SWWP but now I haven't a clue. The client already 
purchased the turbine but if you have any experience with this unit and things 
to be aware of that would be appreciated as well. System voltage is 48vdc.Stay 
healthy my friends,Christopher-Chris Schaefer’sTel/Fax
585-229-2083 or Cell
 585-748-1870 5115
South Hill Road ~ Canandaigua New York 14424www.solarandwindfx.com ~ E-mail: 
ch...@solarandwindfx.com

Thomas Jefferson,
the author of our great Constitution, once said, "democracy" will
cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give
to those who would not."
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[RE-wrenches] guyed tilt up tower suggestions

[Chris Schaefer]

G'day All,

We don't seem to see much on wind these days on the wrenches, so now is the
time to blow out some of the cobwebs. Anyway, I'm getting dragged kicking
and screaming into a Missouri Raptor 7 blade Freedom 1.6kw offgrid wind
project and in search of a tilt up tower. Back in the day it would have
come from SWWP but now I haven't a clue. The client already purchased the
turbine but if you have any experience with this unit and things to be
aware of that would be appreciated as well. System voltage is 48vdc.

Stay healthy my friends,
Christopher-

Chris Schaefer’s


*Tel/Fax 585-229-2083 or Cell 585-748-1870 *
*5115 South Hill Road ~ Canandaigua New York 14424**www.solarandwindfx.com
 ~ E-mail: ch...@solarandwindfx.com
*


Thomas Jefferson, the author of our great Constitution, once said,
"democracy" will cease to exist when you take away from those who are
willing to work and give to those who would not."
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