Benefits of Wood Poles
Wood is the ideal material for utility poles. It is a renewable resource, which is resilient and extremely resistant to oxidation, corrosion, crumbling and spalling.

From a commercial standpoint, wood has only one shortcoming; it's biodegradable. But with preservative treatment, wood is easily and cost-effectively protected against the biological degraders that cause it to weaken and collapse in nature, namely: fungi and termites.

Brown offer a choice of wood preservative treatments: Penta, CCA and ET.

Penta
Poles treated with pentachlorophenol (penta) are the most common utility poles, accounting for almost 50% of the market. Like other wood preservatives, penta is a pesticide, which acts against wood-destroying fungi and insects.

Produced commercially since 1936, penta's popularity for treatment of utility poles stems from the fact that it is a highly effective, economical preservative which controls virtually every type of wood-destroying fungus. Penta also provides protection against a variety of insects such as termites and powder post beetles. In stake tests and actual use, penta has been shown to preserve wood eight to twenty times beyond the normal service life expectancy.

Penta is carried into the pole in an oil solution. When properly applied, penta remains in treated wood products for many years. However, when present in low concentrations, penta is degradable by sunlight and certain bacteria. Thus, over time wood surfaces become relatively free of penta while the preservative continues to work below the treated surface.

Wolman® CCA
Wolman Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA), like the other treatments Brown offers, gives utility poles durability by rendering the wood fiber useless as a food source for fungi and termites. In addition to offering service lives many times that of untreated poles, Wolman CCA poles also offer a number of features which make them the utility pole of choice by many purchasers.

Wolman CCA poles are highly leach resistant, odor free and friendly to the environment. Since the Wolman preservative used in CCA poles is an oxide formulation rather than a salt, they offer low conductivity and low corosivity. Plus, full-scale testing has shown that the Wolman CCA treatment does not significatly alter the phsical properties, such as bending strength, which make wood a superior material for utility poles.

Because CCA becomes "fixed" in the wood, there is virtually no mogration or leaching of the preservative. CCA is carried into the wood in a water solution. Consequently, CCA poles are clean to the touch and non-staining to utility work crews and neightborhood children who might come into contact with them.

Wolman ET® Poles
Brown believes that, by staying current with new developments, we can offer our customers the best solutions to their needs. Although the use of bucket trucks has reduced the need to climb poles, gaff penetration continuies to be a concern for some users. That's why Brown offers the patented ET (Emulsion Treated) pole, which combines the longevity and cleanliness of CCA poles with climbability as good or better than poles treated with oil-borne preservative.

Following treatment with CCA, ET poles are impregnated with hydrocarbon oil emulsion in their outer layers. The viscous oil additive serves as a lubricant, making the pole easier to climb without affecting the preservative properties of the CCA treatment.

Wolman ET poles are AWPA-listed and RUS approved. They offer all the longevity and fixative properies of CCA-treated wood. Researchers have found no detectable migration of either preservative or oil. And there is no need to rotate poles during storage because of the emulsion's high viscosity.

Wolman ET poles can be touched and handled without special safety precautions. They are easier to saw and drill then regular CCA poles because the emulsion additive acts as a lubricating oil. Plus, retention of oil can be readily verified by inspection agencies.