Damn, I can't find a cricket on line to save my soul, except the live ones

[JPapiPE]

I know I need a chimney pipe cricket especially since we got 150" of snow last year and with the $5 /gallon for K-1 has driven me out in search of a metal fabricator to build me one. I do plan to to put brackets, braces , supports, whatever they call them in your part of the world in front of my 6" HT chimney, rising 5' above the roof. I have a low pitched metal corrugated metal roof 2 on 12" which holds snow throught a freeze-thaw cycle for days ,weeks and months depending on the temps around here. Last year we lost, and snow came in Nov and lasted till may. I shall post a pic with the snow load on my roof and then you will know.The snow then goes through it's daily cycle that builds up a 6" to 8" ice bed below the snow on the roof and then crashes to the ground whenever it wants too... Bad stuff...especially if you depend on one source of fuel. wood, and have spent all your buttons, on a new stove, $750, $1000 for wood, $200 for a hearth and are still trying to negotiate a price for stove pipe and chimney. Plus I need a chimney cricket. As an engineer i know exacatally what i need. A sheet of 20 oz copper cut to 4'X4' and then bent into a shape that will divert snow. Unfortunately i don't have the Pro III capable of bending 20 OZ copper into the proper shape. Secretly the pro 3 cant handle 20 Oz copper as it puts the brake into unadjustment, but the warranty allows these guys to have it re-aligned for free for the 3 year warranty, and they sell them before the warranty expires.

For those of you that don't know, 20 OZ copper is hard and nasty stuff. Typically 16 oz is used, which the pro3 brakes handle well. But 20 Oz means that a square foot of this grade copper weighs 20 ounces . See how easy this all is. The metal guys have huge 10-12" brakes in their shops which would bend 100 Oz copper like butter. I used these beast and they move so easily that it would make you laugh. I did used to have a key to to one of maine's biggest sheet metal roofing pros, but then I fell ill and the roofers moved , so now I at the mercy of the paying public and have to absorb their exorbitant prices,,,Well maybe not...surely not. I will construct a barricade of logs and stone before i pay retail to companies i kept alive during the 70's, 80's, and 90's.
Remember one thing, ...if you forget everything else ...Fate is inexorable"
Thanks guys, all my best to you and your loved ones , Joe

 

[begreen]

If the roof is not copper wouldn't bolting a copper object on a steel roof start a large galvanic reaction? I would expect to have one fabricated out of steel like in the vent pipe picture I posted in the other thread.

 

[burntime]

Exactly, you make it or have it made. Check with the gutter guys or hvac guys. The roof guys should have it but usually are just the middle man unless they can bend their own.

 

[JPapiPE]

Yeah woody , you have a very good point here, I did however plan to place this cricket slighty about the roof and secure it with double rubber washered sheet metal screws. Allowing the cricket to float above the roof by 1/4" or so there-by eleiminating the corrosive action between 2 dissimilar metals.... As i said in a just recent post...I will only need 5" above the roof to distance myself 2' above the ridge But your post made me rethink of the corrosive elements present in 2 dissimilar metals.....Thanks again woody ...Seems you got all the answers. By the way i did mitigate my post to John, VP of Selkirk. Although I though he was skirting the issue, I reaaranged my post to make him feel welcome and give him the benefit of the doubt, and asked him to present his case....All in alll Selkirk is good pipe and i shouldn't squueezed him as much as i did. I am however a lawyer in addition to my other stuff. And 3 years of lawshool make you just aggressive enough to chomp into a unsubstansiated claim. Sorry if i cast a negative impact of this forum.
MEA CULPA, Joe

 

[JPapiPE]

Burn time I know 3 or 4 roofers in my area and the good will of my company has spread after being in business for 30 years now. They deal mostly in bronzed or white aluminum and copper 16oz or 20oz., but I do have one historical co that I left a message for and he is the best of the best,

P.S. Woody I can tell you the realtive corrosion rates, between dissimmilar metals if you would care to know. P.M me if you want to add this firmament to your expertise.
Fondly Joe

 

[bartlett920]

you better have copper sheet metal screws or the screws will eat through the copper thats why you have to use copper roofing nails with copper flashing.

 

[begreen]

But then won't the copper screws going through the steel roof set up a galvanic bond? Maybe nylon screws are the answer ?

 

[Wet1]

It sounds like a bad idea all around to me.

 

[jtp10181]

Stainless steel can be used as a buffer between copper and zinc. You use SS screws and rubber grommets. We have had to do copper chase-top pans before and we have the collar made out of SS since the pipe is galvanized.

 

[Hogwildz]

Bro, your nuts for using copper. TOOOOO damn expensive, forget the rotting etc, do you know how long that would take???
Thats not the issue. Now go to the local roofing co, siding co, or even better yet an HVAC shop, give them a plan and have them make it in galvanized or .063 aluminum.
Much stiffer and cheaper than copper. Then just paint it.

 

[JPapiPE]

Very good advice, copper is definitely out. I wasn't thinking of the corrosive action of those disimilar metals. I think the galvanized steel is the best solution and probably the cheapest .
Thanks for the advice, Joe

 

[begreen]

A good sheetmetal shop will know just what you want. Bring a drawing (including mounting flange) and they can bend it up quickly. I would ask for 22 gauge for stoutness. Hog, do you agree?

 

[JPapiPE]

I did find a premade 36" Tall chimney cricket at Woodman's Parts Plus. They are only a half hour from me in New Hamster. The price for the 36" tall HD chimney galv steel cricket was just $99 no sales tax. However they told me shipping would be at least $100 to as much as $150 as this item is so big it can't be shipped by UPS and only by a large freight firm. I said to call when it is ready and i would come down there and pick it up... and make a stop at the NH liquior store in the meantime as booze cost about 55% of what it cost in maine. Here is a picture of the item...I figure I can seal it off with several tubes of urethane caulking and lots of sheet metal washered screws. The real test will be when hogwildz gets a gander at this product...I'm sure he has been saving up some of his best insults to unleash upon someone and that may be me.
Lots of thanks to my dear brothers and few sisters that have helped me make this scary task...simple
Joe

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Use cardboard and fun-tak. Sure you'll have to replace it constantly, but that gives you a chance to shovel off the roof.

 

[JPapiPE]

Adios Pantalones , Now what does that mean in English? GoodBye Pants? I hope you haven't given away all your pants as you may need to sit on a splintery wooden bench in the near future. I did expect blasphemy from the Sacred Hog, but he is still rooting and rutting and chasing down truffles while the rest of us work.

Let me go on record here: I shall never have to replace my cricket in my lifetime... Although the roof may blow off and take my cricket with it. The simple elements of rain, snow, freezing rain and hail will not defeat my
my grand plan.
In Firm Belief, Joe