Maximum wire run??

[MapletopFarm]

Hanging first ever mainline today. As I uncoiled the 12ga. wire, a small kink occurred,and I presumed I had unkinked satisfactorily as I coninued. The run is 300 ft. in a straight line.
After erecting the wire I initially hung the 3/4" tube with zip ties, and I began to tighten the ratchet, when "snap".... it broke just where the kink had been. My better sense is telling me now that any kink is likely a weak spot that'll break when a full load is applied. I'll erect two sections of wire now, each about 150' and that'll be fine, but my question is this....is there a max length of wire with which to hang mainline, that when exceeded just can't be counted on to hang with a constant slope and no snag?

[tom jr.]

mapletop, I have found the best way to keep your line tight is to use the
sidetie method. sidetie your wire every 50ft or less to a tree to keep it tight
and level it that way. I dont have any ratchets in my new system as they will bust the wire at the ratchet just when you give it that "one more crank for good luck" my longest stretch of wire is about 1000ft.

[MapletopFarm]

Can't side tie, no trees. My run here is a line of road side trees in a field....

[sugarstone]

do you have frost in the ground? We don't here. You might have to try and get some steel posts pounded in the ground to support your line. Or run shorter lengths to reduce sagging. I ran my first wire and 1.25in pipe and it sagged alot more than I thought it would. I will have to put more side ties in.

[danno]

No limit to the length of mainline wire - but don't know how you would even keep 20' tight without side ties. A kink will defintely cause a quick break. A wire spinner really helps feed out wire without kinking.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I have some areas that don't have enough trees for side ties and I put steel post in to support the wire. They cost a little $$$ as the price went up with steel and never came back down but you have to have support. Just think how much more the wire is going to sag or how much more weight it has to support when the pipe gets full of liquid.

[MapletopFarm]

Ground is frozen here in Maine boys, no chance of driving a steel post for side ties. Will have to use shorter runs of wire....thanks for the suggestions...

[Mark-NH]

I have a 400' run without support. It starts 20' up in a pine and runs across a sloping field. I bet your problem with your wire is caused by trying to pull it too tight. There is no way you can span that gap without a sag, no matter how tight you pull the line.

Last year I took some 2x4's and screwed a couple longer sheet rock screws in one end, leaving 2" sticking out. Then I took the end with the screws and pushed the mainline up and forced the other end into the snow. The screws kept the mainline on the 2x4 and the weight of the mainline kept the 2x4 standing.

[Toblerone]

I have absolutely no experience in this, but my inner engineer tells me to let the cable/wire sag in the shape of a parabola but tie the mainline so that it is straight, rather like how the road bed hangs from a suspension bridge. Am I over analyzing this?

[PerryW]

I've always seen the Mainline wire-tied directly to the cable.

Actually, I believe it's a called a catanary (sp?) curve.

[red maples]

if you have a sag you need a side tie. my longest one is about 700 feet with rachets too but has a bunch of side ties....they are the trick to using 12 gauge wire.

[maple flats]

I used to try to pull the main as tight as my equipment could pull. No longer. Now I pull just enough to take the curls out and all tensioning is by side tie. I have no stretch without a tree to tie to, some might be 20' away but I tie to them. As I proceed along the main line it zig zags from the tieing one side at one point and the next might be on the other side. To get my final tension I hook a binder strap to the line and the tree, and pull as hard as I can, then tie it with 14 ga wire. This is not a ratchet binder, just one that I pull by hand and it holds wherever I stop. The wire you broke was from a kink, you will not break a 12.5 ga hi tensil from pulling as I described. At the ends or anchor trees I go around the tree with a piece of old 5/16 tubing to protect the tree. Before I put the tubing on I slide 3 crimp sleeves on, then the tubing. When I pull it around the tree I insert the tag end into the 3 sleeves and crimp. I bought the crimper after breaking the hi tensil 3 times on one line using the inline ratched tensioners. I then went to TSC, bought the crimper and haven't broken a wire since. I also bought my wire spooler from TSC, it will prevent kinks and almost eliminates any curl of the mainline wire. Now if something breaks from a big limb or tree falling it is just the side tie wire. Fix the problem and re tie another sidetie.