extension ladders-aluminum or fiberglass
evergreerepair
| Posted in Tools for Home Building on
first off i,m not an electrician and i’m carefull around wires. i was just wondering the pros and cons regarding the two types of ladders. i’m getting a little long in the tooth and always heard fiberglass was a lot heavier. i’m talking about a thirty six foot ladder i need for the work i do. any comments from the “experts” will be appreciated.
Replies
Check the weights at the werner site but fiberglass is heavy and 36', that will be a bear. I like fiberglass better but any of the larger extension ladder are always aluminum. The fiberglass will also be more expensive, probably by a good amount.
Given equal rated weight capacity, fiberglass extension ladders are heavier than aluminum ones.
Unlike fiberglass, aluminum ladders can be stored outdoors without any UV damage.
If your fiberglass ladder isn't nicely placed on the truck rack, or if the truck rack is too short, it is easy to damage the sides on the ladder.
If your work is near wires, I would still consider the FG ladder.
If your work is near wires, I would still consider the FG ladder.
One of the riskiest* electrical things I ever did was reroute my brothers service entrance live and bare handed in the rain on an Al ladder (not smart even with FG, but less risky on FG) but I had to leave town the next day and brother did not want to try it even dry.
...... really would have been more at ease on a FG ladder then.
There is an advantage to the weight of FG in stability.
, plus the deflection for side loads is less which gives a nice solid feeling.
* it is an entirely other discussion on why one would even try such a thing and the overall experience needed to avoid/survive any slight mishap.......etc
Stick a fiberglass shard in your hand from a slightly damaged FG ladder and you'll look at 'em with disdain everytime you see one.
They're heavy, need to be stored inside, and will stick you if knicked, but they're indespesible for electrical work.
"Let's go to Memphis in the meantime, baby" - John Hiatt.
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Not to put too fine a point on it, but any damaged ladder should not be used.
Fiberglass will fail catastrophically and often without warning. That is the nature of composite materials. At least the aluminum will give before it snaps/shatters.
If a fiberglass ladder has shards of fiberglass loose on the ladder, then it is UV damaged and should be destroyed.
If you are the boss, I realize that ladders are expensive.
If you are an employee, you are taking your life in your hands. Companies will fight comp claims while you are injured and off work. Every employee should know the difference between a safe and unsafe ladder. Workers comp will say you do.
Refusing to climb a damaged FG ladder was a problem at a company I worked at. At least I didn't get hurt. Not my problem if the others were too stupid or job scared to climb at their risk.
I agree 100%.I've never owned a FG ext ladder. I have some steps. I was climbing down someone else's ladder on a job site and it had a slight nick on the back side and it got me.
"Let's go to Memphis in the meantime, baby" - John Hiatt.
http://grantlogan.net/
With the weight of an FG ladder, in the event it were to ever inadvertently have strong winds cause the unsecured ladder to slide off to the ground,
it will probably be bent to h*ll when with the lighter weight aluminum at least there's a chance it might not be damaged.
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I keep my 24' FG ladder in the garage, not on the truck. I've thinking of moving it outside because of the wall space it takes up.
Could it be painted to stop or at least slow the UV damage? Leaving the rating and other labels unpainted of course.
How do you tell when a FG ladder has UV damage? I assume it is damaged before it gets to the point of loose fibers.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
I dunno. I would guess extreme fading of the resin color.
Maybe I could put a finish ike a Bass Tracker boat or something.
Hmmmm.
TFB (Bill)
I always keep mine on the truck or on a job outside. They are pretty faded. The oldest one is probably fifteen years old and never been inside. Never had any fraying or nicks to worry about. I had never really worried about uv exposure before. Not too worried about it now but I guess it could be a problem. Never seen or heard about one failing because of uv but maybe it happens. Must be rare as far as ladder injuries go. I guess a blue tarp would protect it for a while.
Edited 10/6/2006 4:02 pm by ccal