Pole Mount Slimline Dish

[biz56]

Would you guys let an installer put up a heavy 5 ft long, 2" diameter pole for a slimline dish using only a pole driver? He says he will drive it in the ground about 2 feet. He says he has been doing it this way for years with no problems. This is totally contrary to what I have read here about using a post hole digger, a rod to prevent spinning, and 150 pounds of concrete.

Should I allow him to proceed?

Thanks,

Ben

 

[raoul5788]

Would you guys let an installer put up a heavy 5 ft long, 2" diameter pole for a slimline dish using only a pole driver? He says he will drive it in the ground about 2 feet. He says he has been doing it this way for years with no problems. This is totally contrary to what I have read here about using a post hole digger, a rod to prevent spinning, and 150 pounds of concrete.

Should I allow him to proceed?

Thanks,

Ben

Absolutely not! It must be at least as deep as the frost line, which MAY be only two feet where you are, but it MUST be in at least 120 lbs of concrete with an anchor to prevent it from spinning.

 

[jdspencer]

No! Also, he'd be hard pressed to get it in here. Too many rocks to get through.
There is also the problem of getting it plumb.

 

[biz56]

That's what I thought also. Thanks.

 

[biz56]

One more question. What kind of anchor to keep the pole from spinning? Drill a hole near the bottom of the pole and insert a rod of some sort?

Thanks,

Ben

 

[Jimbo]

I think the amount of concrete you guys are using is unnecessary.

I've always used 80 lb's with a bolt in the bottom of the post and never have had any issues.

 

[dishrich]

He says he has been doing it this way for years with no problems.

Sure, for HIS A$$!!!
The poor sap (sub) is the one that ends up with the problems, & then it becomes another installer's problem to fix when the sub starts getting all the SFS's...

 

[harshness]

The amount of concrete should vary with the height of the pole and the composition of the soil. If you're going to cheap out on concrete, you should probably dig a square hole to maximize twisting resistance.

The Slimline is anything but when it comes to wind loading. It may have an even higher twisting moment than the AT9.

Crushing the tubing to near flat or drilling a through-hole and inserting a bolt or rod are two recognized ways to prevent spinning.

 

[raoul5788]

One more question. What kind of anchor to keep the pole from spinning? Drill a hole near the bottom of the pole and insert a rod of some sort?

Thanks,

Ben

That will work fine.

 

[johnner1999]

not to hijack the thread - but i'm in CT and thinking of doing a pole mount in the ground as well. I just started to 'google' <research> and it seems the frst line in CT is about 44 inches so i would need to bury about 5 feet of pole then concrete it? My yard like much of the area is full of good rocks and ledge... how hard will this be

 

[SA Holly Springs GA]

The amount of concrete should vary with the height of the pole and the composition of the soil. If you're going to cheap out on concrete, you should probably dig a square hole to maximize twisting resistance.

The Slimline is anything but when it comes to wind loading. It may have an even higher twisting moment than the AT9.

Crushing the tubing to near flat or drilling a through-hole and inserting a bolt or rod are two recognized ways to prevent spinning.

X2

If doing a pole mount with a post driver then crushing 6in to 10in at the bottom will prevent from spinning. Seen it done numerous times with NO problems.

It boils down to your the customer and if you don't want it drove in the ground then tell him to use another method.

 

[raoul5788]

not to hijack the thread - but i'm in CT and thinking of doing a pole mount in the ground as well. I just started to 'google' <research> and it seems the frst line in CT is about 44 inches so i would need to bury about 5 feet of pole then concrete it? My yard like much of the area is full of good rocks and ledge... how hard will this be

Five feet is 60", you only need to go about four feet. You may find lots of ledge, CT is full of it.

 

[johnner1999]

gotcha the site I saw said 1-2 feet past the frost line. -- this will take a bags of cement and even more back breaking work LOL

 

[raoul5788]

gotcha the site I saw said 1-2 feet past the frost line. -- this will take a bags of cement and even more back breaking work LOL

I don't know what Directv requires of its installers, but a hole 8-10" wide and 42" deep should be more than adequate. Two or three 80 lb bags might be enough. I'm sure you know about either flattening the end of the pole or putting a bolt through it to prevent twisting.

 

[SA Holly Springs GA]

I don't know what Directv requires of its installers, but a hole 8-10" wide and 42" deep should be more than adequate. Two or three 80 lb bags might be enough. I'm sure you know about either flattening the end of the pole or putting a bolt through it to prevent twisting.

IMO 2 or 3 80lbs of concrete is beyond overkill. Remember a kaku weighs around 35lbs not 350lbs. You might as well bring in a concrete truck. It's a 2" pole mount not the foundation of a house.

On top of that, how long you think it takes 240lbs (3 x 80lbs) of concrete to dry. An avg install takes around 2 hours and some installers can do 5-6 a day. Now if installers used your pole method they would only get 1-2 a day.

Don't mean to bust your bubble, just thinking logical.

 

[Supershooters]

Just set mine. 5 ft 2" pole like this. DIRECTV 2" Inch OD Mast Dish Antenna Professional Grade 5' FT Mast Pipe Pole Super Ground Galvanized AT9 Slimline AU9-S Slim-Line Satellite Dish Pipe 16 AWG Satellite Antenna Post Steel Support: Oak Entertainment Centers and Home Office Furniture, TV Used post hole digger, put a third of the pole in the ground. almost two bags of concrete (mixed!). Come Monday it will be ready for the Slimline. It's already hard as a rock and I did it today. A good thick pole helps. If you wait it out a day or two you don't need to worry about spinning.

 

[Jimbo]

Just set mine. 5 ft 2" pole like this. DIRECTV 2" Inch OD Mast Dish Antenna Professional Grade 5' FT Mast Pipe Pole Super Ground Galvanized AT9 Slimline AU9-S Slim-Line Satellite Dish Pipe 16 AWG Satellite Antenna Post Steel Support: Oak Entertainment Centers and Home Office Furniture, TV Used post hole digger, put a third of the pole in the ground. almost two bags of concrete (mixed!). Come Monday it will be ready for the Slimline. It's already hard as a rock and I did it today. A good thick pole helps. If you wait it out a day or two you don't need to worry about spinning.

Waiting a day or two will have no bearing on the spinning ...
I would imagine that D* and DISH use Quick Create, dries MUCH quicker.
Personally, I used the regular stuff, but mine was a self install so I had time.
I did the 24 hour thing.
16' pole, 30" deep, rod in bottom and 80 lbs of concrete.
It's been working for 5 years now, no problems.
Also supported at the roof line.

 

[raoul5788]

IMO 2 or 3 80lbs of concrete is beyond overkill. Remember a kaku weighs around 35lbs not 350lbs. You might as well bring in a concrete truck. It's a 2" pole mount not the foundation of a house.

On top of that, how long you think it takes 240lbs (3 x 80lbs) of concrete to dry. An avg install takes around 2 hours and some installers can do 5-6 a day. Now if installers used your pole method they would only get 1-2 a day.

Don't mean to bust your bubble, just thinking logical.

I do have a tendency to over engineer things, however, an 8" hole 4' deep won't get filled by one bag of concrete. Two would likely do it, but if you have a wider hole, then you would need more. As to the drying time, Jimbo covered that. You have heard of Quikrete, yes?

 

[harshness]

IMO 2 or 3 80lbs of concrete is beyond overkill. Remember a kaku weighs around 35lbs not 350lbs.

The weight of the dish assembly has no bearing on what's required; the issue is wind loading and there's plenty of that with a 570+ square inch spinnaker wannabe we call the Slimline.

 

[SA Holly Springs GA]

I do have a tendency to over engineer things, however, an 8" hole 4' deep won't get filled by one bag of concrete. Two would likely do it, but if you have a wider hole, then you would need more. As to the drying time, Jimbo covered that. You have heard of Quikrete, yes?

Concrete, quikrete, fastkrete, hurrykrete. It doesn't matter what you use.

More concrete = longer drying time

If 1 bag of concrete says it drys in 1 hour and you put 3 bags in a hole, you think it's gonna take an hour to dry?