A hydropillar is a tower-height tank that is enclosed at the base. While this doesn't seem like a big deal, the process of enclosing the base adds several twists and turns that must be maneuvered in order to set up and break down.
Fortunately, this tank had been cleaned about six months prior to our visit, so our job was an inspect only.
Even so, setup took about two hours. The tank has a pull-through garage bay at ground level (which was full of parked water district vehicles, so we had to park outside). We pulled the gear and umbilical in the garage and up three half flights of stairs to the next level up. From there, the gear was pulled up through a hatch in the ceiling that led up to another level that serves as a condensation collector. We then pulled all the gear up with ropes to a catwalk about 20' above the condensation floor. After the umbilical and gear were staged on the catwalk, I had the pleasure of attaching the umbilical to my harness, as well as a downline bag and other fall protection and tie off gear, and climbing the 50' or so up to the top of the tower. Oh, and I wore the 30# weight belt up as a I climbed, too.
Needless to say, I broke a good sweat on this job. Fortunately, the temperature wasn't too high (low 80s), and there was a nice breeze blowing when I reached the top of the tower.
The entire dive took about 20 minutes, but setup and breakdown easily took about three hours. If this had been a cleaning job, it would have taken us at least two more hours to set up and break down.
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