Question about S&K 1.9 inch round pole

BIOteacher012 · Fri Jan 30, 2015 11:32 pm

I am replacing my Tri-tel pole with the S&K 1.9 inch 16 gauge galvanized steel pole that is expandable. Has anyone tried these poles? I am putting my plastic barn on it with an 8 gourd fountain rack attached below it. All will ride with a winch and pulley. This is all S&K product of course.

Seems sturdy. Thoughts? Will it hold up okay in the wind?

tonyg · Sat Jan 31, 2015 12:55 am

Brian I do know for a fact that the original poles that the plastic barnes come on will not stand up to a windy area, as Ive seen first hand my neighbors poles both bending..those fountain rack poles S&k sells seem to look a lot sturdier, but know nothing about them..1.9" would seem strong enough..all my 2" square poles do fine in the wind..

krushing · Mon Feb 02, 2015 10:19 am

tonyg wrote:Brian I do know for a fact that the original poles that the plastic barnes come on will not stand up to a windy area, as Ive seen first hand my neighbors poles both bending..those fountain rack poles S&k sells seem to look a lot sturdier, but know nothing about them..1.9" would seem strong enough..all my 2" square poles do fine in the wind..

I must disagree. I have the tri tel pole and it survived over 80 MPH straight line winds. I have had the same pole for over a decade and have had no issues whatsoever.
.... So with that said. the round pole with the winch is in my opinion a much sturdier pole and should hold up wonderfully for your needs....

apundt-TX · Mon Feb 02, 2015 10:40 am

I too disliked the tri-tel pole.
Besides the plastic snaps not working correctly(yes I talked to the manufacture to try to remedy the problem) and none of his suggestions worked.
It also eventually broke/bent at the ground because of a wind issue.

Now the 1.9 pole does look a lot sturdier and suggest a rope/cable/pully system over a telescoping pole.

Chuck4 · Mon Feb 02, 2015 11:11 am

krushing wrote:I must disagree. I have the tri tel pole and it survived over 80 MPH straight line winds. I have had the same pole for over a decade and have had no issues whatsoever.
.... So with that said. the round pole with the winch is in my opinion a much sturdier pole and should hold up wonderfully for your needs....

Wow, that's pretty unusual for a pole like that to stand up to an 80 MPH wind!

krushing · Tue Feb 03, 2015 10:38 am

I don't know if people have modified the poles that have bent, or over loaded them, or not put them in the sleeve in the ground deep enough( my suspicion) ... but mine has held up in amazing winds here in Texas. I don't have the slightest bend in it at all.... It might not be typical, but my personal experience with it has been amazing. I own 2 of them.
I have the round pole too for my gourd rack and its very sturdy.

Chuck4 · Tue Feb 03, 2015 11:30 am

krushing wrote:I don't know if people have modified the poles that have bent, or over loaded them, or not put them in the sleeve in the ground deep enough( my suspicion) ... but mine has held up in amazing winds here in Texas. I don't have the slightest bend in it at all.... It might not be typical, but my personal experience with it has been amazing. I own 2 of them.
I have the round pole too for my gourd rack and its very sturdy.

I take it the house was at the highest position during the winds. I have seen housing get demolished with substantially lower wind speeds (45-50 mph) in my area. Last year as a matter of fact. You are very fortunate.

BIOteacher012 · Tue Feb 03, 2015 5:20 pm

Hi Krushing,
Just curious......do you have the S&K 1.9 Exrp round pole that I am going to use? You mentioned that it is very sturdy with your gourd rack. I am very excited to hear that, if that is the same one.....since the 1.9 is what I will be using for my 3rd martin house setup and gourds.

I too have had great luck with the tri-tel pole. It did flex in the winds, but held up very well. The only reason that I am replacing it with the 1.9 round pole is so that I can add a winch and pulley.

Carolyn C · Tue Feb 03, 2015 6:43 pm

I'm not sure how the tri pole can be replaced with the round pole. How does it fit in the house since it was made for the tri pole?

We have 3 rope type gui wires ( not sure of the correct term or how to spell it)from our houses attached to the fences and they hold up pretty good in the wind. If it's too windy, we lower the houses a little and the martins seem to accept it.

apundt-TX · Tue Feb 03, 2015 6:48 pm

This pole was designed to operate with the new house models - Heavenly Haven (HH), American Barn (AB), and the Great Eight (G8)

Looks like it travels up the middle of the house

taxidermy lady · Tue Feb 03, 2015 6:55 pm

A house is as good as it's foundation. use plenty of concrete and a nice sturdy ground sleeve. It will hold up. My son lives in a flat open area and it is always windy. He put a very sturdy sleeve in the ground and only has a house on his tri- pole and it is still straight. I have to add I bought the house for him last Feb. and he got a pair, fledged 4 with 4 eggs. Don't add a lot of weight and it will work!

BIOteacher012 · Tue Feb 03, 2015 9:19 pm

As mentioned earlier, I am using the 1.9 Exrp round pole from S&K that is designed for the newer S&K houses, such as the American Barn. These newer houses have a hole in the middle and move up and down the round pole with either a rope and pulley or a winch and pulley. I am planning to use the barn, along with 8 gourds underneath. S&K tells me that this should be strong enough. Just wanted to get some other opinions, in addition to what S&K told me. I am doing away with my tri-tel as a result.

I sure appreciate all of the discussion on this type of pole. Sounds like I should be okay......from what everyone is telling me!!

tonyg · Wed Feb 04, 2015 4:06 am

Krushing.....Don't know what kind of 1.9 tri tel pole is holding up your S&K Barn, but I can absolutely guarantee you that a 40/45 mph wind gust bend my neighbors poles to where they were not useable.. I helped him take them down!!!!!!!! He took down what he called in his own words "piece of junk" and bought two 2in square poles and hasn't had any problems since..yours must be made of some aerodynamic space age metal wind resistant organic substance that S&K is manufacturing now..

BIOteacher012 · Wed Feb 04, 2015 11:14 am

The 1.9 pole by S&K is much sturdier than the tri-tel. This new pole design is 16 guage galvanized steel. Several of you have lumped this one with the tri-tel......it's not the same thing. My guess is that they were forced to vamp up their pole design since there were so many complaints of bent tri-tel poles. When I had my tri-tel pole up.......I did use several bags of concrete at the base. I also saw it to be very sturdy on windy days. I did keep it at about 12 feet high instead of the optional 15 foot height. That may have helped.

I sure hope the 1.9 pole that I just bought won't disappoint me.
It feels very sturdy.

Or I could upgrade to a 2 3/8th inch EZlift pole by S&K which costs more. If anybody has thoughts about this one being better than the 1.9 inch.....I would love to hear your feedback!!

Chuck4 · Wed Feb 04, 2015 11:46 am

That 1.9 should be a good pole. I am using the 2" square pole (four sections) and winch form S&K. The only thing I've done to make it "better" is to replace the plastic topper pulley with a nice steel one rated for 500lbs. I use the topper pulley sheath with the new pulley. The old pulley was OK, but it had been outside for four years and I was getting a little nervous since my new rack is a bit heavier than what I used last year.

Matt F. · Wed Feb 04, 2015 12:00 pm

BIOteacher012 wrote:I am replacing my Tri-tel pole with the S&K 1.9 inch 16 gauge galvanized steel pole that is expandable. Has anyone tried these poles? I am putting my plastic barn on it with an 8 gourd fountain rack attached below it. All will ride with a winch and pulley. This is all S&K product of course.

Seems sturdy. Thoughts? Will it hold up okay in the wind?

Hi Brian,
I purchased one of the 1.9 inch poles a couple of years ago, mostly to get a closer look at it.
It is definitely a good, sturdy pole system.
With your desired setup - a plastic barn, and 8 gourds on a rack, you should be in great shape.
I personally would have no reservations about going with that configuration, on that pole.

BIOteacher012 · Wed Feb 04, 2015 1:48 pm

Hey Matt and Chuck,
Thank you for that input!! I am much relieved to get that feedback from you, given that you actually own one of these poles!! With 2 young kids at home.....I have my hands full without having to worry about every gust of wind potentially ruining my pole and martin colony.

krushing · Wed Feb 04, 2015 3:01 pm

tonyg wrote:Krushing.....Don't know what kind of 1.9 tri tel pole is holding up your S&K Barn, but I can absolutely guarantee you that a 40/45 mph wind gust bend my neighbors poles to where they were not useable.. I helped him take them down!!!!!!!! He took down what he called in his own words "piece of junk" and bought two 2in square poles and hasn't had any problems since..yours must be made of some aerodynamic space age metal wind resistant organic substance that S&K is manufacturing now..

The round 1.9 pole and the Tri Tel Pole are TOTALLY Different poles! My Tri -Tel pole has held up beautifully! Ive had it for OVER 10 years! Ill post more pictures later... here is an old picture I found on my computer.
FOLKS-- What Im saying is "I" have had NO issues with the integrity of the pole. It might not be great for everyone, but "I" have had no issues. It works wonderfully for my house and thats all Im saying. I have 3 different poles and love each one of them for different uses. Of course a THICKER pole will probably hold up better for most, but I've even seen steel pipe bent over as well. IF you can afford it, by all means, get the thickest, easiest pole to operate that your money can afford!

Siberman · Wed Feb 04, 2015 7:59 pm

I had a tri-tel bend in half while another 10 feet away was undamaged . It was either a very selective wind or a manufacturing flaw .

S&K now offers "keys" to replace the plastic snaps . It's a definite improvement .

I purchased a Great Eight combo for Mom this year . The 1.9" pole and rope pulley system appears solid but there's a few drawbacks to the setup .

1) The house can snag on the pole sections while raising it.

2) The house will spin while raising/lowering so be sure it's aligned with the "topper" before tying it off .

As for the house , I was disappointed . They advertise 6"x9" cavities . This is true but the cavities are 6" deep x 9" wide and the nest bowls are directly in front of the entrance . It would be easy , however , to convert this house to ( 4 ) 12" x 9" or (4) 18" x 6" cavities . The nest bowls are recessed with good traction and they all have a drain hole in the bottom . Unfortunately , the top floor drain holes are directly above the bottom floor nests .

I recently installed the 2 3/8 " pole with winch system and 4 " block ready " Whistler gourds . The pole is a BEAST and the gourds are huge but they can spin during lowering .

For anyone interested in the "Whistlers" : I would recommend buying those made for a rack instead of the block . You have to slip the " block-ready" gourds over two buttons on the block and then use sheet metal screws with washers to secure them to the drywall anchors in the block . This is accomplished by putting your hand , forearm , screwdriver and screw/washer through a 4" inspection port and hitting the precise spot while you can see only the outside of the gourd .

My right hand has finally quit cramping and I most sincerely apologize to the good folks at S&K for the words I said about them during the process .

ck40711 · Thu Feb 05, 2015 4:33 pm

krushing wrote:
tonyg wrote:Brian I do know for a fact that the original poles that the plastic barnes come on will not stand up to a windy area, as Ive seen first hand my neighbors poles both bending..those fountain rack poles S&k sells seem to look a lot sturdier, but know nothing about them..1.9" would seem strong enough..all my 2" square poles do fine in the wind..
I must disagree. I have the tri tel pole and it survived over 80 MPH straight line winds. I have had the same pole for over a decade and have had no issues whatsoever.
.... So with that said. the round pole with the winch is in my opinion a much sturdier pole and should hold up wonderfully for your needs....

I too have had the tri-tel pole for the past 3 years, and have never had any issues with it. The plastic locking clamps are a bit of a joke, but even those have never failed me. I like the idea of the round pole but at only 12 feet tall vs. the 15ft tri tel, I chose to go with the taller options.