Strong wind blew upper shutter off


Kay Wyatt
 

Oh help!
 
We are having major winds on the Oregon Coast.  It is not uncommon for 70 to 80 mph winds.
 
I thought I had everything buttoned down well, but this morning while my husband was doing dishes he saw the wind blew the upper shutter completely off and flew down the hill.  While he carried the shutter into our shop, I started covering all of my equipment, telescope, mount, pier, computer, accessories with lawn and leaf bags and tied with gorilla tape.
 
Since the dome came assembled I haven't spent a lot of time on the shutters.  Note that I use the manual open/close shutter assembly.
 
I would sincerely be grateful for your suggestions.  Since husband is 82 and I'm 68, I'm not sure we are up to climbing on top of the dome.  Is there a repair service by ExploraDome?  How would you secure the opening in the meantime.  Weather reports at least 10 days of rain (It is the coast) with probably more after that
 
Thank you for your help!
 
Kay
 
 


Paul Dawson
 

Oh dear! You have my sympathy. Down here, near Ridgecrest CA, we are also used to high winds. My EDII has stood up to these magnificently. The only wind problem I have had in 8 years came when I stupidly left the shutter open.

I'm afraid I can't offer much more than sympathy. My handy skills are non-existent. I had a contractor assemble mine. As far as I am aware, he found the instructions quite straightforward.

I am puzzled that this happened to you, because I have been really impressed with the way the EDII has coped with the same sort of winds as you describe. Is it possible that the shutter was left a little bit open?

Anyway, I wish I could offer a little more in the way of help, but all good wishes to you.

Paul



On Saturday, December 11, 2021, 12:27:21 PM PST, Kay Wyatt <kwyatt@...> wrote:


Oh help!
 
We are having major winds on the Oregon Coast.  It is not uncommon for 70 to 80 mph winds.
 
I thought I had everything buttoned down well, but this morning while my husband was doing dishes he saw the wind blew the upper shutter completely off and flew down the hill.  While he carried the shutter into our shop, I started covering all of my equipment, telescope, mount, pier, computer, accessories with lawn and leaf bags and tied with gorilla tape.
 
Since the dome came assembled I haven't spent a lot of time on the shutters.  Note that I use the manual open/close shutter assembly.
 
I would sincerely be grateful for your suggestions.  Since husband is 82 and I'm 68, I'm not sure we are up to climbing on top of the dome.  Is there a repair service by ExploraDome?  How would you secure the opening in the meantime.  Weather reports at least 10 days of rain (It is the coast) with probably more after that
 
Thank you for your help!
 
Kay
 
 


Pictor User
 

Hi Kay.  Very sorry to hear about your dome's misfortune.  I think the domes do typically come assembled, i.e. with the shutter already attached.  You did not say whether your dome is the ED1 or the ED2.  I am only familiar with the ED1.  For that one, the shutter rides on and is constrained by some plastic strips about 1/2" square that are bent to conform to the curvature of the dome and are attached to the outside of the dome by screws.

Due to variances in manufacturing the shutter can either be fairly tight on those strips or loose.  If you operate your shutter manually with ropes (that is how the ED1 comes) and if it has both opened and closed fairly easily, then your shutter is loose on those strips.  (Mine was fairly snug).

I think there are two possibilities: 1) your shutter was loose enough that it jumped over that plastic track, or 2) the wind force on the shutter was enough to strip out the screws.  I think this is less likely, but you will either see one or both strips missing or both still attached when you look at the dome exterior.

Are the plastic strips still attached and not missing any screws?

If the strips are still attached, then you will need someone to reattach the shutter to that track.  The easiest way to do that would be to remove one track, place the shutter, and then reattach the track.  But, then your work is not done.  You will need to prevent a recurrence by tightening the shutter on the track.  You could do that either by buying wider track and replacing what is there now, or by devising an adjustable "spreader" placed on the inside of the shutter slit.  I did that to make my shutter not clamp the track so tightly.  So, in my case the spreader acts on the shutter; in your case it would act on the slit to widen the slit slightly.

It sounds like you are going to need some assistance, but perhaps a handyman could perform the work for you if you can describe what needs to be done.

Good luck,
Manning B


Jim
 

I encourage you to browse the archives as well.
https://exploradome-observatories.groups.io/g/Archive/messages

If you search on 'wind' (at top right of page) you will see others have had the same issue....including me:)
When mine blew off I just popped it back on (had to crawl 30' up a ladder)
Then I got a post & pin contraption from Exploradome that mounts on the lip the shutter closes against.
No problems since.