An Epoxy Coating that Works TOO Well

water treatment plantPermaSafe 100 is one of Induron’s most popular, toughest products for protecting waste water treatment plants. In fact, it has actually proved to be almost too tough for comfort!

We once worked with a contractor who applied it on a water treatment plant, and while it was approved and looked good, the owners decided that it needed to be removed because it was a different product than was originally specified. They wanted to use a different generic polyurea, rather than an epoxy, so the PermaSafe 100 had to be removed. However, neither the owners of the water treatment plant nor the painter understood just how well PermaSafe 100 bonds to concrete and steel.

First, the contractor tried sandblasting it off. No luck. Then he tried water blasting it off at 5,000 PSI – that didn’t get it off either. Finally, he had to resort to his last option – a diamond grinder. That PermaSafe 100 was bonded so well, that it damaged the concrete when removed with the diamond grinder!

In the contractor’s statement, the lead person on the project said he’d never seen a coating like PermaSafe 100 in his 30 years in business – truly, a testament to its true strength!

Its four big pluses are:

  1. Absolute minimal undercutting – It bonds extremely well because of its unique film build. PermaSafe 100 is actually self healing; pinhole corrosion cells cap themselves and do not spread or “undercut” beneath the coating surface.
  2. Unrivaled film build – You can apply up to 50+ mils thick, so often, one coat is enough
  3. Ultra low permeability – It is very difficult to permeate the coating.  A liquid’s pathway to the substrate is more difficult than that provided by traditional coatings.
  4. Non-ablative surface – Because of the ceramic pigment package, PermaSafe 100 does not allow microbial growth, therefore ultra-corrosive thiobacillus bacteria that ingest sulphur and water (two main ingredients of sewage) and expels sulphuric acid. The magic of non-ablative coatings is that this is achieved without the paint sacrificing or “using up” any of its components, such as mildewcides. PermaSafe 100 will resist microbial growth in five years just as well as it does today!

While we hope you never choose to remove PermaSafe 100 from your project, this real-life example shows just how amazing and tough this product really is.

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