The Siren Board

Hi all,

Well, I have an opportunity to get my very first siren, a Thunderbolt 1003! This siren is located on the roof of the Hosterman school in New Hope, MN. The school is going to be demolished sometime in the future. The city was originally going to remove this 1003 and install in on a pole just south of the school, but since it would have required a special transformer to run, re-installing the t-bolt would have only been slightly cheaper than putting up a new 2001-130, so the city purchased and had installed a 2001-130. I have pictures of both sirens on the thread "New Hope MN siren moving."

Many of you have deep experience in purchasing and removing/hiring companies to remove sirens. This is a great chance for me to obtain a siren--the city has granted me possession of the t-bolt and has given me permission to remove it. I have consulted with several different crane companies. The most inexpensive bid, from Rocket Crane of New Hope, MN I received was just less than $300 for two hours of labor to remove the siren from the roof. I have contacted Robbinsdale schools to see how I would be allowed to remove the siren. They were willing to let me remove it, but only if it was 100% done by licensed and insured companies. They sounded fine with the crane company. I was originally going to hire the crane company to remove the main siren after I disconnected power and removed the control cabinets myself. Robbinsdale will not allow me to work on anything in the electrical room--I would have to hire a licensed electrician to disconnect power and remove the control cabinets (RCM1A, RCM3, radio receiver, AF timer). I have only heard back from one company with the final bid so far, Nash Electric, who estimated 2-2.5 hours of labor to remove the control cabinets, for $250.
This all would mean the current price I could obtain the t-bolt for would be just less than $550. Any thoughts on this? Does this sound reasonable? Should I go for it?

Here are some pictures of the siren:

From Zealand Ave:

http://maps.google.com/maps?layer=c&cbl ... VYC__sY5VQ

From 56th Ave:

http://maps.google.com/maps?layer=c&cbl ... g1CyAf63MA

Can it even be accessed by a crane? It looks like it's on that part of the roof in the middle of the building. Has the crane company seen where the siren is? If you call them out to get it and they can't reach it they'll still charge you for coming out there. It doesn't look to me from looking at the satellite view that it can be reached with a crane that would be parked in the parking lot. The siren might have been put there with a crane early on and then some additions done to the building around it where it can't be reached now.
I just looked again. I don't see any way a normal size crane could reach it. Maybe one of those mega huge cranes could reach it but I would think to have one of those come out it would be a fortune. You might have to work a deal with the demolition company to try to get it when that part of the building comes down.

I don't know how you got a price that cheap for the crane, but you're going to have to have a crane with a jib to get that much reach.

If they'll allow you on the roof with a helper or two, and a pulley, rope, and come-along, you can take the siren all apart and move it to the edge of the roof. Then any basic crane truck should be able to remove it from the roof. In fact, if you can get it all apart and there are stairs, you can probably just bring it down piece-by piece, by hand. I've moved T-bolts alone without any help, but it wasn't easy. The chopper and rotator box will ride on an appliance dolly easily down stairs, and the blower and blower motor can be removed from the chassis, and moved by hand dolly. But please be careful... We don't want to hear that any fellow siren enthusiast is up for hernia surgery!

If you're going to have it plucked off in 2 pieces (blower box + head unit), I would recommend going to meet the crane contractor at the school, and be sure to get all the if's, and's and but's about the quote. The only danger I see, is that the chopper & horn are on a TALL pole, and that's going to be tricky to lower by hand. It's possible that my idea of pre-dismantling it, won't work for that reason.

I would also call sign companies, as they have experience with lifting large motorized signs to & from poles and roofs. A regular crane operator might only be used to lifting crates and air conditioners, and maybe not weird objects with funny balance.

Charles

Thank you for all your replies. I have not heard back FOR CERTAIN from the $300 crane bidder, I am just about to call him to ask him to take a closer look at it (he said "it all depends, if we can use our smallest size rig it will be $300" on email) which might not be the case.

I heard back from two other crane companies:

One company provided a $625 bid. They said they went and looked at it in person and would be able to take it down with their 40 ton crane. I am waiting to hear back for more specifics (if they are willing to do absolutely everything on the roof) as Robbinsdale schools will not allow me in the school, only licensed, bonded, and insured contractors are allowed in there.

Another company provided an $800 bid. They said specifically they would be willing to remove all guy wires, fasteners, and everything to get the siren on the ground.

Do these two $625 and $800 bids sound reasonable to you guys? Does the $250 for electric disconnect and control boxes removal from the electrical room sound reasonable?

Thunderboltlover wrote:Thank you for all your replies. I have not heard back FOR CERTAIN from the $300 crane bidder, I am just about to call him to ask him to take a closer look at it (he said "it all depends, if we can use our smallest size rig it will be $300" on email) which might not be the case.

I heard back from two other crane companies:

One company provided a $625 bid. They said they went and looked at it in person and would be able to take it down with their 40 ton crane. I am waiting to hear back for more specifics (if they are willing to do absolutely everything on the roof) as Robbinsdale schools will not allow me in the school, only licensed, bonded, and insured contractors are allowed in there.

Another company provided an $800 bid. They said specifically they would be willing to remove all guy wires, fasteners, and everything to get the siren on the ground.

Do these two $625 and $800 bids sound reasonable to you guys? Does the $250 for electric disconnect and control boxes removal from the electrical room sound reasonable?

I would think that at least $1K would be about reasonable. There are a lot of insurance issues that go into something like removing roof-mounted objects, as well as the time and manpower to do it. To be completely honest with you, plan on at least one thing not going to plan, and costing some additional money.

Congratulations on your hopefully [soon] acquisition.

Good luck and I hope you get your thunderbolt. Shop your prices but $650. does not sount too unreasonable. I paid $350. for a tree service to remove my T'bolt from the top of a utility pole without any wires connected to it. Try sign conpanies in your area also. Some agencies will not let anyone but a licensed, bonded, insured person i.e. electrical , crane service, etc. touch anything-- its a liability issue for them anal bunch ! Also see if the city or school will handle the electrical part and just pay them for their services its a way for the city to make money and you to get your siren.

countypoletop wrote:Good luck and I hope you get your thunderbolt. Shop your prices but $650. does not sount too unreasonable. I paid $350. for a tree service to remove my T'bolt from the top of a utility pole without any wires connected to it. Try sign conpanies in your area also. Some agencies will not let anyone but a licensed, bonded, insured person i.e. electrical , crane service, etc. touch anything-- its a liability issue for them anal bunch ! Also see if the city or school will handle the electrical part and just pay them for their services its a way for the city to make money and you to get your siren.

I've talked to New Hope about that, but they're not interested. I will call the crane company that was the lowest bidder right now and find out more details.

Also keep in mind that the thing can be damaged while it's being removed. It would be a real drag to hire a crane for $600 or $800 and then end up with a busted up siren.
Actually I don't see how they are going to get the cable attached to horn assy. as high as it is off of the roof. They might get a crane to reach over there but then how are they going to get someone up there to attach to it to remove it. Maybe they could hook to the horn and then cut the guy wires and lower it down on the standpipe. If they did it like that then they could damage the solenoid housing while trying to hook onto it.

When they removed the 1003 horn/rotator for me in sherman everything was easy to get to and right by the road. They had one guy go up on a smaller sign basket truck and unbolt it and attach the cable and the crane lift if off of the pole.

CDV777-1 wrote:Also keep in mind that the thing can be damaged while it's being removed. It would be a real drag to hire a crane for $600 or $800 and then end up with a busted up siren.
Actually I don't see how they are going to get the cable attached to horn assy. as high as it is off of the roof. They might get a crane to reach over there but then how are they going to get someone up there to attach to it to remove it. Maybe they could hook to the horn and then cut the guy wires and lower it down on the standpipe. If they did it like that then they could damage the solenoid housing while trying to hook onto it.

When they removed the 1003 horn/rotator for me in sherman everything was easy to get to and right by the road. They had one guy go up on a smaller sign basket truck and unbolt it and attach the cable and the crane lift if off of the pole.

Thanks for that consideration also. I'm sure they'll be reasonably careful with it, but I am aware that the siren could be damaged while removed. Would this also be covered under their insurance (say they dropped the whole thing on the parking lot and it broke into pieces. Would they refund part of the money or somehow have insurance pay out or something)?

I have not heard back from Rocket Crane yet, but I did call them this afternoon and they agreed to go take a closer (in person) look at it and get back to me on what they would charge. I will post the bid right away once I receive it.