Denison, Iowa - My First Coulee Top

The only type of tank I haven't done yet on this hitch is called a Coulee Top.  We tried to do one about a month ago, but there were cell towers on it and had the utility reschedule. 

A Coulee Top is an older tank with a steep roof.  They are often Circa 1920-1930 (sometimes older), and several don't have modern safety features. 

This tank had a ladder with a fall cage, but no other fall protection.  Fortunately, the tower was only about 90 feet tall (total). 

Staging the gear on the roof was very challenging.  For towers, we use a pully system to pull our gear up to the catwalk, then I go up to the top of the tank and pull all of the gear from the catwalk to the top of the tank (near the hatch).  A Coulee Top has a  lip that overhangs the side of the tank by 12-18", so gear has a bad habit of getting caught under that lip.  Once a piece of gear is on top of the tank, there is no level space to stage it, so everything must be tied off to whatever is available (in this case it was the ladder) to keep it from sliding off the roof. 

This was a challenging tank... probably the most difficult setup I've done so far.  The sun was beating down on us with 97 degree temperatures (the heat index was around 110) and very high humidity.  Much like the reservoir we worked on in Hanna, Wyoming, I couldn't wait for this one to be done.  We were done around 1:30 and drove 90 miles back to Boone.

This tower is a very large Coulee Top.  They are usually much smaller and lack any modern safety features.

The top of a Coulee Top tank is very steep.  There are no flat areas to set gear - everything must be tied off to the ladder.

Looking down at the catwalk from the top of the tank.

The roof of the Coulee Top extends over the side walls of the tank, so it is necessary to feed the down line over the last ladder rung when pulling up gear to avoid rubbing the line on a sharp edge and possibly dropping 10-50 lbs of gear.

Looking at a hydropillar off in the distance.  I would have preferred working on the hydropillar instead of the Coulee Top.

We went out to Golden Corral for dinner after completing the tank.  This caboose was in the parking lot.  I love trains. 

Madrid, Iowa

On the 29th, we cleaned and inspected a short tower (105 feet) in Madrid, Iowa.  I have been working on increasing my speed while setting up and breaking down now that I have a solid grasp on my responsibilities.  The total time of the job depends greatly on the tender's speed with setup and breakdown (we call it "mob" and "de-mob").  This tank was mobilized, cleaned, inspected, and de-mobilized in about three hours.  We were back in the truck by noon.

What a mess!  Actually, this looks disorganized because I had to pull the hard pipe out of the hatch to fill it with water.  Doing so makes it possible to "prime" the hose.  By closing off the pipe at the bottom when we fill it, we can create a syphon in the hose and clean a tower without using a pump. 

Shenandoah, Iowa

On the 28th, we drove to Shenandoah, Iowa to inspect three tanks at their water plant.  Two of the tanks were old - built circa 1934, and the water works plumbing didn't appear much newer.  This resulted in some quirky aspects to the job.

The two old tanks were side entry, which is challenging because the diver had to enter the tank with all of his gear on through a port hole.  Our gear (dry suit, 35 lb. helmet, 100 feet of umbilical) isn't designed to easily push through a horizontal hatch that's four feet off the floor.  Like many other jobs, we completed this one by improvising.

The third tank was a large underground tank, which was an easy setup and inspect. 

Since all three tanks were located on the same property, we were able to complete inspections on all three by 1:00 in the afternoon.

From there, we drove to Boone, Iowa to stay the night for our next job.

This water works building was built in the 1930s and resembled something from an old fashioned suspense film.  There were pipes going everywhere, and doors with glass windows labeled "LABORATORY" and other interesting labels. 

This was my first experience with side entry tanks.  They were a unique challenge - I'm glad I wasn't the one diving them.

A blurry picture, yes, but one of the few I've been able to snap of a diver in a tank.

The strap going from the post to the hatch is holding the ladder... which we dropped in the second tank and had to recover after the diver went in. 



Pipes EVERYWHERE!



This valve was leaking pretty good - you can see water flowing out the top.  There were many leaks in this plant. 

You are looking at vice grips that are holding a valve shut.  Based on the surface corrosion, I'm certain they'd been there for years. 

The third tank was a newer underground tank outside the water plant.

The tank is under this lawn.

After work, we went out to dinner at a buffet called Pizza Ranch.  Their sign made me chuckle... made me wish I had my "lil cowpoke" with me.

Madison County, Iowa

Two towers in two days. 

Do you remember the movie "Bridges of Madison County"?  That's where we found ourselves on the 26th.  We met the rep from the water district at the local Wal-Mart and followed him to the first tower.  Following a representative to a tank is typical because some of these water districts are huge and finding the right tank can often be a challenge.  The big difference is that this tower took nearly 40 minutes of driving on back country roads to reach. 

We were set up on the first tower by 9:45 and were on the road to the second by 1:00 in the afternoon.  That's scraping close to three hours for the tank, which is about an hour faster than we've been averaging. 

At the second tank, we set up about two thirds of our gear and secured everything for the evening.

The morning of the 27th, we returned to the tank and finished our setup.  The cleaning and inspection went very quickly, and we were checked in at our next motel, over two hours away, around 1:30 in the afternoon.

I like quick days.  Working a tower is a lot of work... there is a lot of gear to pull up and down from the 135' catwalk, and working on top of the tank can be tricky.  Even on quick days, we have still put in an honest day's work. 

Back at the motel, I was able to catch Pam and Julia on Skype in the early afternoon.  We usually don't catch up until evening, when everyone is tired and doesn't have much energy for lively conversation.  I'll be home in less than two weeks now - we're all excited for my first hitch to be done and spending some quality time together.