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Chris Walden
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Dec 19, 2016
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Soldotna, Alaska
· Joined Aug 2014
· Points: 630
Normally I over engineer anything I build and had grand thoughts of constructing some monster with walls, dozens of spraying shower heads, hanging chain link fence etc. However, due to time constraints I wanted to experiment and see if something very simple would work and holy ice balls it worked awesome --> K.I.S.S. I set this up two weeks ago and the only mistake I made was not hanging it 30' higher. It worked awesome and in a little over a week I got 20' columns about 4' thick. I am going to raise the PVC giving a final height of ~50' and get a top rope setup. Drills tiny holes in PVC --> wraps small 7lb twine around PVC --> Hangs PVC --> Ice!
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matt c.
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Dec 19, 2016
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Unknown Hometown
· Joined Nov 2009
· Points: 155
sweet! i can't tell from the picture. What keeps the columns from falling over?
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Chris Walden
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Dec 19, 2016
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Soldotna, Alaska
· Joined Aug 2014
· Points: 630
matt c. wrote:sweet! i can't tell from the picture. What keeps the columns from falling over? Just the ice. There is no internal support the columns are over 4' thick.
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Patrick Shyvers
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Dec 19, 2016
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Fort Collins, CO
· Joined Jul 2013
· Points: 10
matt c begs an interesting point, they might be fine as they are but if you hang the PVC 50' tall, it's hard to imagine they would be all that stable. I may be oversimplifying, but draw yourself a 50x4 rectangle, and apply some imagination...
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Eric K
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Dec 19, 2016
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Leavenworth, WA
· Joined Aug 2010
· Points: 45
What were your temps? What type of water pressure did you have?
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Gunkiemike
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Dec 19, 2016
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Unknown Hometown
· Joined Jul 2009
· Points: 3,492
Patrick Shyvers wrote:matt c begs an interesting point, they might be fine as they are but if you hang the PVC 50' tall, it's hard to imagine they would be all that stable. I may be oversimplifying, but draw yourself a 50x4 rectangle, and apply some imagination... If you worry about it falling down with you on it, you'll never get far as an ice climber! :-)
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DWF 3
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Dec 19, 2016
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Boulder, CO
· Joined Nov 2012
· Points: 186
That's awesome. Maybe next season if you decide to go taller, arrange your pipes in a big circle or triangle to keep it from crushing you.
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Chris Walden
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Dec 20, 2016
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Soldotna, Alaska
· Joined Aug 2014
· Points: 630
Eric K wrote:What were your temps? What type of water pressure did you have? Temps over the last 3 weeks have been anywhere from 22 to -10 with most days in the 15 range. Water pressure isn't that great about 40 psi out here.
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Woodchuck ATC
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Dec 22, 2016
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Unknown Hometown
· Joined Nov 2007
· Points: 3,280
Just like in a high rise building, (engineers know the numbers) somewhere around 50 ft. I think you will have a problem of getting water up that high unless you have supplementary pumps to push it up that high. Garden hose used for our ice the last 6 or 7 years, from a well. So that might have had more pressure than you would get from city water supply, I dont know for sure.. We had about 38 ft. height we were working with to build our ice. I like the simple idea though. Seems string drippage works pretty good for you.
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Nick Sweeney
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Dec 23, 2016
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Spokane, WA
· Joined Jun 2013
· Points: 969
That is awesome, Chris. I'm jealous! I wonder if there is a danger of the weight of the ice itself pulling the trees down?
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Mike Byrnes
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Dec 23, 2016
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Unknown Hometown
· Joined Nov 2016
· Points: 0
The ice isn't hanging on the trees at all, it's self standing from the ground. Wouldn't make sense for them to get pulled down
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Woodchuck ATC
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Dec 23, 2016
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Unknown Hometown
· Joined Nov 2007
· Points: 3,280
I've seen similar freeze efforts start like that, with a thin string. Once the column begins to be supportive from the ground, it wont' 'tip over'. Nice formation and love how they all grew together as one massive group . Great start. I did see someone freeze a fir tree once, and it was sort of fun, but the weight of forming ice did bend it down a bit before the base got strong enough at base to take over the mass of the ice.
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