Strongwell poles are engineered to be a direct replacement for wood poles. Design the line as you normally would and simply substitute Strongwell poles of equivalent size and class for the wood poles.

Yes. All hardware and equipment can be installed on the ground and the framed pole lifted into place. The only difference is that the center of gravity is higher up on the FRP pole because of its light weight.

Yes. Use the same grounding system you presently use for wood poles, except you cannot use staples to attach the bond or ground wire. Instead, you will install the bond wire, ground wire, and ground guards using wire clips secured with self-tapping screws. Spacing distance between clips on the FRP pole should be the same as the spacing distance between staples on wood poles.

Yes. Although Strongwell poles are made of a tough FRP material and pre-drilled to your specifications, the poles are easily field drilled using standard twist drills. A carbide-tipped bit is recommended for repeated drilling.

No. With pole steps installed, a Strongwell pole can be climbed like any wood or steel pole with steps.

If you have standard wood pole assemblies in your system, much of the hardware you currently use can be used on Strongwell poles. There are a few exceptions:

(1) Strongwell does provide and require that pliable urethane spacers be placed between metal fixtures and the FRP pole surface
(2) Strongwell provides and requires galvanized sleeves to be used in conjunction with through-bolts
(3) Strongwell can supply “L” style permanent steps and temporary step mounting lugs that look familiar but are slightly modified for easy attachment to the FRP pole

Strongwell poles are pultruded and manufactured using UV-inhibiting binders, surfacing veils and paint coatings. Industry advances have made composites reinforced with fiberglass extremely durable and almost immune to the fiber blooming experienced when filament wound FRP products were first introduced.

Because of their natural resistance to corrosion, decay and infestation, Strongwell poles should last indefinitely, even in harsh environments. The only significant maintenance that may be required is the re-application of a UV inhibiting paint coating after about 25-30 years of service.

You should specify Strongwell poles much like you do other manufactured poles. Strongwell can provide standard specification forms to assist you.

Yes. Independent test results can be viewed by the following links.

• Full-Scale Bending Test
• Full-Scale Cyclic Bending Test
• Buckling Strength Test

No. Strongwell poles are constructed of fabricated pultruded components. This generally means Strongwell poles will have higher material properties, especially properties related to deflection. Another benefit is consistency of manufacture. Since Strongwell pole components are pultruded through a die versus filament wound over a mandrel, resin saturation, placement of reinforcements and overall consistency from product to product will be more consistent.