Drain Tank Fibreglass Repair

The main criteria of this project was to reinstate a 20 year old redundant tank back into service. This required the full internal floor area and 1m up the wall to be completely refurbished without the use of any hot-work and in limited timescale.

Tank internals suffer from heavy corrosion, pitting and severe metal loss. Combined with the possibility of holes, open-top tank exposed to elements, high humidity, cold and rain adding to the difficulty of this work.

First coat of Epo-chem™ RA 564 solvent-free glassflake epoxy system was applied on grit blasted Sa 2.5 @ 200µ by airless spray. All welded areas and seams were filled using Ceram-chem™ RH 500 high density ceramic epoxy filler. The complete floor area was then fibre-glassed using Epo-chem™ RA 500L (special laminating grade of RA 500 series) and 450gsm of chopped strand mat in 2 overlapping layers. Second coat of Epo-chem™ RA 564 solventfree glassflake epoxy system @ 400µ was applied by airless spray. Final coat of Epo-chem™ RA 564 solvent-free glassflake epoxy system @ 400µ was applied by airless spray.

The major technical benefits offered by utilising this system ensured the client that the work was on time, tank integrity established, within budget and with no delays to the program (many days saved). The use of this tank refurbishment system from Chemco will now be utilised for similar tank refurbishment projects on sites where hot-work is not feasible.

• No hot work
• Structural/tank integrity restored
• Huge cost savings compared to tank floor replacement
• No delays
• Reduced H&S and Fire Precaution
• Reduced cost of plant and equipment
• Chemco system will protect the steel substrate for minimum of 25 years