About Cam



gribbly.org* is the online home of Cameron Brown. Creative director, designer, musician, mediocre programmer, caffeine addict. Seattle

This is where I accumulate interesting links... If you're looking for coherence or context, you're in the wrong place!


2008-08-07

The Tower Problem

Hi there. I am a wind generator newbie planning to erect a wind generator at Burning Man (basically seven days of camping on a prehistoric lake bed) this year. We have time and space to do a pilot install, balance the blades, etc.

The mill is relatively small (800W, 59") generator that we purchased from Mike's Windmill Shop: http://www.mikeswindmillshop.com/wgenerators.html

We are (were...) planning to construct the recommended 20' tower.

The tower safety issue we're running into is that the tower plans recommended by the vendor require that we mount the pole in a hole filled with concrete. Unfortunately, this is not possible at Burning Man (putting a permanent hole in the playa is not really an option, as it is a "leave no trace" event).

Obviously we are very concerned about safety. Are there any safe options for mounting a 20' tower without setting the base in concrete? We are struggling to think of any... I'm hoping some more experienced folks might have run into similar situations and can help out.

Thanks in advance for any help.