May 25, 2011
Ohio

Jason's Mailbag: Horrible wind turbine noise in Margaretta

Sandusky Register, www.sanduskyregister.com 25 May 2011

Q: I was wondering who to contact about the windmill at Margaretta’s Bogart school. Every time the head turns on this windmill it puts out an awful noise, like it could use a 5 gallon bucket of grease. Who was this windmill approved by? Paid for? Maintained by? Myself and other neighbors are finding it hard to enjoy our back yards or even the inside of our homes from the racket this thing makes. Thanks! Jason on Gary Drive in Castalia

A: Hi Jason! Thanks for writing in! Since the weather is getting nice you probably want to enjoy the summer without what sounds like an awful wind turbine noise. You’re in luck because I have an answer you’ll be happy about. To answer your question about the turbine, I talked to the Margaretta Schools superintendent Ed Kurt. He informed me that the windmill was approved by the school board. It was given to them by Shear Energy and the school board maintains it. As far as the noise you are hearing, the windmill is run by what’s called a yaw system. The yaw system has three components – a yaw bearing, a yaw drive and a yaw brake. So it could be a number of these things that is causing the noise. Kurt let me know that the school board is aware of the noise problem and they were working on replacing the yaw system. That means that sometime in the near future the noise should go away. Good luck and enjoy your backyard again!

Jason’s Mailbag is a daily feature on SanduskyRegister.com. Every weekday at noon, we will post one question-and-answer from a resident. On Mondays, we will collect the still-relevant questions from the previous week and place them in the print edition.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/05/25/jasons-mailbag-horrible-wind-turbine-noise-in-margaretta/