Loading…
21
TIL: Windy day in Amarillo taught me a $1800 lesson about trusting the wind meter over my gut
Last Wednesday I was running a 250 ton Liebherr in Amarillo and the wind readings were bouncing between 18 and 24 mph all afternoon, but my gut kept saying it was fine to keep swinging because the loads felt steady. My spotter called it and made me shut down for 45 minutes, and after we timed the gusts with a handheld meter we found a 32 mph spike that would have sent a 12 foot panel right into the power lines. Do you all trust the anemometer over feel on days like that, or have you been burned by waiting too long either way?
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
emerycarr16d ago
What made your gut say it was fine when the meter was already reading 18 to 24? I ask because that range is already pushing it for a 12 foot panel depending on your boom angle and how much sail area you are catching. The thing that gets guys is the steady feel between gusts, so you start judging the wind by the loads instead of the air, and the loads lie to you because the panel only pulls hard once the gust is already on it. Your spotter earned his pay that day, because 32 would have been a no doubter and you would not have had time to react. Did you all ever figure out how long those spikes were lasting, since a two second gust and a ten second gust are two totally different problems?
2