Very tall free-standing pole (for stove-pipe support)

[TropicalCoasting]

Re: Very tall free-standing pole (for stove-pipe support)

Does it have a flashing red light on top for low flying planes?

[kebwi]

Re: Very tall free-standing pole (for stove-pipe support)

OK, I went and looked at your oven again. You can forget that other than with 2 sets of guy wires, one at the top with about a 60 foot diameter, and another midway with about a 40' diameter.

That's a great mock-up image. Thanks. So you don't think the same effect can be had with a flagpole and a few conventional horizontal stove-pipe-roof "braces" like I see all over town? You think that won't work?

My wife simply will not let me string cables all over the yard, just not an option and I don't entirely disagree with her. I'm more likely to put **two** flagpoles (one in the same place, back corner, and a second at the other back corner) than run guy wires all over our back yard –– that's just the facts of my circumstances.

I could go a little shorter too. The pipe is in two-foot sections. It's just that, I figure if I'm going to do this, I might as well go for broke and use all the pieces I have. I got two extra sections (four feet) more than I expected. The guy who sold it to me advertized it as seven sections and then found two additional sections at the last second and tossed them in for no additional cost.

Hmmm...

[kebwi]

Re: Very tall free-standing pole (for stove-pipe support)

In the spirit of Tscarborough's mockup from an earlier post, I made my own, measured as precisely as possible. Mine shows the two-foot section lengths that are available for me to work with and therefore make pretty clear how I could modularly modify this design if I choose.

I guess I might just make this thing shorter even though I have all the pieces. I would hate to make it shorter and then not have it be tall enough...whatever that means in the context of this situation.

Thanks.

[kebwi]

Re: Very tall free-standing pole (for stove-pipe support)

Here's a couple mockups of potential designs, just for show. I can knock out any number of 2' sections so I have tremendous control over the height, but I only mocked up a few options in the attached image: 11', 15', and 19'. The pipe will be a tad bit thinner than shown since I made the images by extending the current pipe in the left image which is 10" exterior and the new pipe is 9.25" exterior.

Anyhoo...just kicking ideas around and trying to decide how high I need to go to get the smoke reasonably high over the neighboring yard.

For reference, the higher ground behind the retaining wall in the photos is the ground height of the neighboring yard. Admittedly, that means the top of the current stove pipe is only about six feet off ground level and the neighbor's house is probably about twenty feet from the oven...so I really would like to raise it up...maybe the full 19' isn't necessary however. The mockups really look ridiculous; I didn't realize 19' was so high. I'll give this some thought.

To clarify, the bottom of the stove pipe is three bricks down from where the stove pipe visually "ends" in the photo. That top three-brick layer is a "shoe" the chimney pipe sits in. If you look at my oven-construction thread you'll see how the vent is put together.

Cheers!

[Jaronimo]

Re: Very tall free-standing pole (for stove-pipe support)

This is a lot of work to try to keep the smoke from touching the neighbors house?

When I light my oven, the smoke does not always go up, it goes sideways and sometimes downward depending on the wind and nearby obstructions.

20 feet of chimney is pretty tall and will have a huge amount of surface area. That will catch a lot of wind. It will need to be secured or it will bend and break on gusty days.

Three guy wires would probably be the least visually obtrusive way to do that. If you are worried about kids tripping over the wire/ground connection point, you could anchor three 8 foot or 10 foot poles or railroad ties, halfway in the ground and then attach the guy wires at the tops of those poles.

I believe this all stems from the black spots on the neigbors siding? I get those on my house near any spots that have mulch. I even get some on the cars. They are spores, not smoke damage.

[kebwi]

Re: Very tall free-standing pole (for stove-pipe support)

This is a lot of work to try to keep the smoke from touching the neighbors house?

I'm getting tired of responses like this. They dismiss the severity of the situation. If you want to deal with this constantly harrassing bullying woman, then come to my house and do it. Otherwise it's me all alone out there for two hours.

20 feet of chimney is pretty tall and will have a huge amount of surface area. That will catch a lot of wind. It will need to be secured or it will bend and break on gusty days.

Umm, well sure. I don't think that any point in this thread there has been any discussion of whether support is required, but rather the method. I never had any illusions that a stall stove-pipe would simply balance on its base for ever.

I believe this all stems from the black spots on the neigbors siding? I get those on my house near any spots that have mulch. I even get some on the cars. They are spores, not smoke damage.

I completely agree...I guess...I dunno. She would immediately claim she finds more such spots the day after I use the oven. Obviously, that's because she looks for them, but logical statements like that are pretty irrelevant to the circumstances. I'm the only one dealing with her and I'm out of ideas.

[Faith In Virginia]

Re: Very tall free-standing pole (for stove-pipe support)

If you want to deal with this constantly harrassing bullying woman, then come to my house and do it.

For a second there I thought you were talking about your wife giving you grief about the wires in the yard...Thinking sh** this guy will be living in the dog house if she read that post...

Then I remembered your the one with the crazy neighbor.

Thinking of your design... you could also run two shorter poles then brace a triangle between the two poles and the chimney pipe and let 4 or 5 feet free stand above your support.

Also thinking if your a flag kind of family you could also use flag poles so you could brace your chimney and also make it have a decorative purpose. Love the sound of a flag on a breezy day.

[Jaronimo]

Re: Very tall free-standing pole (for stove-pipe support)

Sorry, did not mean to belittle your crazy neighbor situation. I will never bring it up again.

My comment about securing the chimney, which I realize you understand needs to happen, was more along the lines of the support needs to be pretty strong. A second pipe next to it that the chimney is attached to will have to be very beefy to withstand the constant movement of the wind. Sure may days it will not be bad, but over the days and months that thing will move a lot. Guy wires are used in industry all the time, because they allow only minimal flexing. In my opinion, with a chimney this tall, guy wires are probably the best option.

If you cannot do the guy wire route you are probably going to need something on the order of a telephone pole. And those are pretty ugly.

[kebwi]

Re: Very tall free-standing pole (for stove-pipe support)

For a second there I thought you were talking about your wife giving you grief about the wires in the yard...Thinking sh** this guy will be living in the dog house if she read that post...

Okay, THAT was hilarious.

Thinking of your design... you could also run two shorter poles then brace a triangle between the two poles and the chimney pipe and let 4 or 5 feet free stand above your support.

Yes, I am liking the idea of two poles the more I think about it. It would make maintenance easier since one pole could support the stove pipe while work is done on the other.

Also thinking if your a flag kind of family you could also use flag poles so you could brace your chimney and also make it have a decorative purpose. Love the sound of a flag on a breezy day.

Plus, I could fly a flag at the same time that I use the oven. Oh wait.

[kebwi]

Re: Very tall free-standing pole (for stove-pipe support)

Sorry, did not mean to belittle your crazy neighbor situation. I will never bring it up again.

It's not you, don't worry about it.

...the support needs to be pretty strong. A second pipe next to it that the chimney is attached to will have to be very beefy to withstand the constant movement of the wind. Sure may days it will not be bad, but over the days and months that thing will move a lot. Guy wires are used in industry all the time, because they allow only minimal flexing. In my opinion, with a chimney this tall, guy wires are probably the best option.

If you cannot do the guy wire route you are probably going to need something on the order of a telephone pole. And those are pretty ugly.

Point taken, I'll keep it in mind.

[Gulf]

Re: Very tall free-standing pole (for stove-pipe support)

kebwi,
If you are thinking about putting mutiple poles in the breeze, How about the structure pulling double duty.

You probably wouldn't want it to pump water, but a little help on the electric bill would be nice. Even if it isn't funtional a rustic wind mill might look good, hide, and brace your chimney .

[WJW]

Re: Very tall free-standing pole (for stove-pipe support)

Gulf is a genius!

Many, many jurisdictions around the U.S. have laws intended to promote alternative energy solutions like windmills. A place as militantly liberal/green as Seattle is bound to have such laws. (I'm can call your town "militantly liberal" because I live in Southern California and we are every bit as looney in that department as you guys. )

So you put a windmill at the top of a 20 foot metal pole next to your oven and call it green energy. A few weeks later you put up your chimney and tie it to the pole.

The reason I think it's important to have some legal cover for the pole is that your crazy neighbor is probably going to find a reason to complain about the tall pole next door. Interferes with butterfly migrations...or some other highly legitimate concern.

All kidding aside...you really should look into what the local codes will allow with respect to a structure like your twenty foot pole. Are you allowed to put up a twenty foot flag pole in your yard? A twenty foot tall ham radio antennae?


I'm no engineer, but I do think you'll need a stout metal pole to do the job. Maybe four or five inch diameter with relatively thick walls, sunk three or so feet down. I have no idea what the lateral loads would be with sixty knot gusts hitting that chimney, but they must be significant. If I were you I'd make some determinations as to what the likely peak winds are going to be during any given twenty year period...do the calcs on the lateral loads imparted...and then decide what you need...and build in a safety margin. I think you'll find you need metal and that it needs to be stout.

I also think you are going to find that there are building codes which come into play...and that your neghbor is going to force you to get acquainted with them.

Bill

P.S.: I know you're tired of the "Kill the neighbor" jokes...but I'm just saying.

[kebwi]

Re: Very tall free-standing pole (for stove-pipe support)

So today I bought this off Craigslist. It's an old lamp post that the previous guy got from some Seattle surplus source. He was using it as a CB antenna tower (it went several sections above this piece on various extensions for his purpose).

It's aluminum so it weighs practically nothing. It's 14'2" including the base, 1/8" thick, 2-7/8" OD at top, 4" OD at bottom, 12-1/2" OD at base. He mounted it by sliding it over a 3" pipe in the ground, so I think I'll do something similar, embed some sort of pipe in the concrete sticking up a few feet and slide this over the top...so I guess I need another piece of pipe. Ergh.

I'm not quite sure whether I should "fix" it to the pipe-footing. I can't imagine how I would do that without drilling holes through it, which would be a shame. The mounting brackets at the bottom of the base are completely broken off so the base can't be mounted in a conventional manner (bolts).

And then I need to figure out how to attach the boom. Again, it would be nice to not drill through the pole. A clamp around the outside seems obvious except that the pole is not cylindrical, so any clamp could loosen if it works its way up the pole. Hmmm...

Also, the top is open, so I need a cap of some sort, probably not hard to find (fingers crossed).

I also still haven't ruled out adding a second pole just for the sake of redundancy...but they would never match, so, I dunno.

Cheers!

[kebwi]

Re: Very tall free-standing pole (for stove-pipe support)

To make a pipe foot to slide a pipe pole over, one would conventionally use, say, a heavy steel pipe of OD just slightly less than the ID of the pole. Such a pipe is probably really expensive (I can't find any second-hand for example).

Could I achieve a similar effect by using a piece of PVC, dropping several pieces of rebar in it (maybe even lengths of smaller easier-to-source pipe), and filling the thing with concrete? This would extend into the concrete anchor at ground level down about three feet, but would then project upward from the ground a few feet.

Would that work?

[kebwi]

Re: Very tall free-standing pole (for stove-pipe support)

Did anyone have any thoughts on the last post w.r.t. a PVC, rebar, and concrete column as a foot to slide a pole over?...as opposed to a piece of steel pipe? I also posted a photo of the aluminum pole I got two posts up the thread. It's 1/8" thick.

Cheers!