When you repair or modify your crane you should do a load test to confirm that the equipment can still perform it’s duties to full capacity. The biggest problem with doing that is that it can be hard to find enough weight to test your crane. Traditionally you might pile up a bunch of crane counterweights. But that is dangerous, and transporting all that weight can be costly. The best option is to do water bag load testing or also known as Water Weights.

A Water bag is exactly what it sounds like, its a large balloon shaped bag that holds lots of water. In our case the water bag we use here in Edmonton holds 25 tons of water. That is a lot of water, but the nice thing is it doesn’t weigh that much during transportation. In fact it only weighs about 700 lbs when it is empty. So instead of using a semi and trailer to deliver the heavy steel plates we just use a 1/2 ton truck. And for the water, it can be obtained either through a hydrant or by using a water truck.

So now when you need to load test your log handling crane, overhead crane, or any other lifting device don’t go searching for steel plates when your best option is to get us out with a water bag.