Frozen or Freezing anamometer

Sunrise Pilot · Post by **Sunrise Pilot** » Sat 26 Jan 2013 4:09 am

My anemometer seems to have frozen LITERALLY. The vane seems to be rotating OK, but the propeller for the anemometer is not showing any wind. I just popped out to check with a live Mark-1 eyeball and cutaneous wind sensor and I have wind coming out of the west (ranging wsw to wnw) that is showing correctly on the display, but registering as L&V (0mph and N) in Cumulus.

Is there a way to keep the anemometer/vane from freezing?

Cheers
Doug

peterh · Post by **peterh** » Sat 26 Jan 2013 7:40 am

some folks have had good results with the liberal application of WD40.

AndyH · Post by **AndyH** » Sat 09 Mar 2013 6:13 pm

I have had the same issues in the past and have tried tipping a little warm water on to it which works. Always run the risk that it freezes again though! Didn't happen this winter despite some cold nights. Will try the WD40 method next time it happens.

chrisc85 · Post by **chrisc85** » Mon 11 Mar 2013 10:34 am

I used some "dry lube" from my mountain biking days. Its a teflon based lube that I put in the bearings for the anometer.
Before I did this I had it freeze many times and sometimes for days on end. If it was a bit misty and the temperature was below freezing the anometer would certainly freeze.

It has since been down to -7c and it hasn't stuck yet.

Something like this:
http://www.tweekscycles.com/Product.do? ... MgodXVcAcw

Sunrise Pilot · Post by **Sunrise Pilot** » Wed 13 Mar 2013 9:18 am

AndyH wrote:I have had the same issues in the past and have tried tipping a little warm water on to it which works. Always run the risk that it freezes again though! Didn't happen this winter despite some cold nights. Will try the WD40 method next time it happens.

chrisc85 wrote:I used some "dry lube" from my mountain biking days. Its a teflon based lube that I put in the bearings for the anometer.
Before I did this I had it freeze many times and sometimes for days on end. If it was a bit misty and the temperature was below freezing the anometer would certainly freeze.

It has since been down to -7c and it hasn't stuck yet.

Something like this:
http://www.tweekscycles.com/Product.do? ... MgodXVcAcw

Me gear is 20 feet up a pole on the roof of the house. I'll get up there later this spring and drop the pole and try the dry lube. I always worried about grit being blown around getting into wd-40 and gumming things up.

Cheers
Doug

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