A nice construction company erected this windvane for me on Friday.
I used to use the tree to gauge wind strength and direction but this is much more accurate! (for direction anyway. I'll still use the tree for wind strength)

I'm sure you posted in jest, however I'm curious: what do they do with those at night and weekends ?

Do they lock them in a downwind position based on forecast?
I'm pretty sure they don't just let them loose...

aus301 said...

pierrec45 said...
I'm sure you posted in jest, however I'm curious: what do they do with those at night and weekends ?

Do they lock them in a downwind position based on forecast?
I'm pretty sure they don't just let them loose...

They do leave them in neutral, the jib needs to be able to swing with the wind direction.

It most definitely swings and points in the direction the wind is going.

Anita, you should ask them to Fly a BIG WWA flag or banner from it to judge strength and some nice advertising to boot

Mark _australia said...
I've always wanted to know what holds them up. Not much footprint for something so huge.

All works on the counter weight, get that wrong and BANG.

I used to work in high rise construction, and have a couple of good mates that drive cranes. Many years ago it wasn't that uncommon to see one fall, nowdays they have a few more systems to help stop that.

It is pretty cool to see them take one down - putting up not so much as they only usually start them out a few floors above ground level. But they take them from 20-30 stories to being gone in a few days.

Most of the time they are only a few floors above the height of the building, and then they are attached to the building till ground level.

Years ago when I was a student (in France) I decided with a rockclimbing friend to abseil one, we thought we would walk to the end of the arrow and put our rope there. But then, at midnight, scared of being caught we climbed up the ladders and we couldn't believe how scary it was with void all around us (compare to against a big cliff). we went maybe a 1/3 along the horizontal, had also to guess/calculate/trust the height of it. But it was a fun experience. We were very impressed by the workers who put it up together.
The cranes are definitely free of rotating in the wind, so you'll know which way it goes !