New to The Siren Board! Want to restore a Thunderbolt.

[Rick K]

I'd say that if you can snag it for free, go for it!!! That's a single tone (5 port) model 1000 judging by the ID tag, which is definitely a powerful siren with the blower running.

And yes, you can run it without the blower, assuming it still works. It'll be a LOT quieter, but still enough to irritate the neighbors (I don't speak from experience or anything... ) lol.

I'm going to reiterate Aaron's question...what part of MN are you from?? I live right in Southwest Minneapolis. Good to see more and more MN siren nuts joining! Maybe one of these days I'll have to push all the sirens out into the yard and host a "siren nerd" BBQ or something like that.

Oh, and here's my 1000 with a bank teller blower reversed to make a supercharger. Nothing like a REAL Tbolt blower, but it certainly makes the beast rumble your chest! This is running on 120vac ("Level 1")
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DVTjlTTx5g

-Rick

[SirenMN]

Well that bump sure worked fast! haha I'm from Kandiyohi county (WestCentral MN). I still haven't talked to the town fire chief about the siren. He is the manager of the fertilizer dept. at the local Co-op so he has been very busy lately.

I guess they got the siren from Willmar around 5 years ago and it has been sitting there since... I have no clue why they wouldn't give it to me since it has been sitting, but who knows. My thought is that maybe Willmar public works may still have a blower (assuming at one time they probably had more than one T-bolt in town). Willmar has now updated to a newer Federal siren model (unknow will post pics soon). Since they have multiple federals now I think that they probably had multiple T-bolts and probably have T-bolt parts somewhere if they weren't all scrapped... God I hope not!

[SirenMN]

Well the latest update is:

I talked to the fire chief, who sent me to another member of the volunteer fire dept. (Emergency Management) who said that they planned to put the siren up. However, it has been sitting for five years according to the caretaker... Basically the chances of the siren going up in town are slim to none and the EM guy is known around town as a cheapskate and a general jerk. I'm not really sure where to go with this whole situation now, but this looks like the end of the line for that T-Bolt and I.

[CDV777-1]

Just keep an eye on it and check every few months to see if anything has changed. Move the thing to a position so that if it sits for a few more years it won't fill with water. Sometimes it takes years to get sirens. It took me 7 years to get the 1003 from Sherman Tx.

[Allertor113]

Don't give up. Always keep your eye on it and check back with the "caretaker" from time to time. Send him a professionally written letter explain what you plan to do and how you could possibly help the community with it by returning it fully restored in the future.

[SirenMN]

Wow, 7 years that is quite some time! I agree with you guys though, that was kind of my plan to just wait it out and see what happens. If it has been sitting there for this long I doubt it will change. Also I like the idea of a professional letter. That sounds like something I could do well. Thanks for the encouragement guys! I guess I was really discouraged at the time. Most of the people I've talked to about it give me funny looks or don't seem to care, but I suppose that is quite common.

[SirenMN]

BUMP FOR AN AWESOME INDEPENDENCE DAY!

[Westgate Thunderbolt]

A well thought out letter is a good direction to go, but personaly I prefer to talk to someone face to face with these dealings. It is much harder to just blow someone off when they are right in front of you. A letter they can throw in the trash, a phone call they can hang up on, but face to face they have to deal with you. That is how I was allowed to remove the Thunderbolt in Phoenix. I personaly went and spoke with every person I had to until I got to the person that made the decisions. The old saying "The squeaky wheel gets the grease."comes in to play here. The key is to squeak enough that they know you are still there, but not so much that they throw the whole damn wheel away. Essentially keep in touch, but don't be a nuisance. If they seem somewhat responsive to the idea of unloading that siren just touch base with them every few months to let them know you are still interested and to see where they are with the idea of letting it go.[/list]

[SirenMN]

Thanks for the reply! It has been a little slow haha. I actually haven't heard that saying in a long time, but it does hold true. Thanks for the advice!

[Pete]

Don't know what part of MN you're in, but a couple of months ago I was driving Hwy 2 up north, and noticed that the town of Bagley had replaced their Thunderbolt with a new 2001. It might be worth investigating...

Pete