Enclosed Suburban Outfit

[hwy8]

I remembered passing by this place years ago and now that I'm thinking of building a tower like it, I looked it up in Zumbrota, MN. The owner was home and invited me to take a close look. Something I had wondered was how (and if) the building was attached to the tower; I figured that no one would want to drill a bunch of holes in the tower legs. So take a look at the photos and hopefully you won't get too dizzy looking upwards at the tank (which is 14' from the ground to the bottom of the tank) The concrete block base of the tower building is 10' square and about 4' tall and the 2.5" x 1/8" galv. tower legs seem to be cast into it. From the top of the concrete, the building has been built around (detached from) the tower, although the "shelf" for the tank is attached to the building. The 2" x 8" uprights are 24" on center. There is only one door to the outside and there isn't a pass-through to the little building.The water pipe buried in the yard goes to the house. Next to the ladder, there is a hatch in the roof to get at the tank and cleaning it now and then must have been have been a real pain:The bottom of that tank might still be full of frogs and mud! There wasn't any sign of windmill parts around the place: any guesses who made the tower or what brand of machine sat on top of that casting? I don't have a clue...
Burt

[Mister Ed]

What ... no inside the tank pics?

That is really cool!

[Ron Stauffer]

Burt

IMHO, that probably isnt a suburban as the tank is NOT supported by the tower. The tank is supported by the building. That is an impressive building considering the block and framing is laid/built at the tower angle. If there are no overhead power lines between you and it, I would just pick everything up wholesale and move it...

There was a nanufacturer that used diagonal corner braces on the girts (Challenge?), I just know for sure it isnt Aermotor...

Ron Stauffer

[Windcatcher530 Dan]

I have to agree with Ron that tower most likely is challenge. The tower cap and step plate look Dandy. Pretty sure!

[mtblah]

Bert , thanks for the photo's .

[hwy8]

I called it that because I didn't know what else it might be named....When I first started looking at old Aermotor catalogs, I got the idea "Suburban Outfit" might be a proprietary name that Aermotor may have invented. Then, somewhere I saw it used in another company's literature and then I thought it might be universal. I know what you mean though, this tank looks like it might have been lifted up and then nailed into place. I've got an Aermotor Suburban tower and it is a beauty compared to this one: For one thing, the Aermotor tower and all the parts are all well made and are hot-dipped galvanized.

According to the present owner, this "water tower" was built by a man who had become wealthy by owning the local sawmill, etc and he was somewhat famous for building these setups around this part of MN. (Near Rochester, MN) If it was for sale, I wouldn't hesitate to move it but I'm afraid the local historians would skin me alive! Just down the road is one of the last covered bridges in MN.

I figure by building one like it, I'll get to have a spinning windmill with a good looking built-in garden shed! (There's a real active Historical Society in Goodhue County and I'm hoping there might be a photo around with a windmill on top of the tower...)

[hwy8]

By the way, speaking of frogs and mud; I talked to an old guy whose family bragged far and wide about the quality of their cistern water: He said when they decided to give it a cleaning, they discovered they'd been drinking water with all kinds of dead critters and buckets full of muck in it! They all got kind of quiet after that....

[Ron Stauffer]

I figured since you had a suburban that you knew it likely wasnt. I think maybe they built 20' of the tower, framed just above the tank platform and then set the tank. The reason I say this is there is splicing in the wall framing just above the tank platform. It would be a difficult tear down so that's why I recommended a wholesale move...

There is enough lower producing wells around here and have seen enough cisterns to know what you are talking about. I was once told that live critters in a cistern or a spring meant that the water was safe...

Ron

[Windcatcher530 Dan]

How dare you call that a suburban tank Burt. we are only politically correct on this forum. Nuck! Nuck! Nuck!

[Wayne]

Looks like to me like the best thing could be to get the framing square, hammer and skill saw, put your tower up and start from ground level with your building. The Emick's had a Perkins with a building build around the tower in their back yard at the ranch the last time I was there. I have a picture some where.