Restoring Three Ground Storage Tanks for Helena, Alabama

By: Nick Jones, Induron Sales Representative

3 tankIn January of 2022, Garver Engineering put a three-tank project out for bid for the city of Helena, Alabama. A 300k ground storage tank, a 500k ground storage tank, and a 1.5 million gallon ground storage tank required interior and exterior coating. 

The project challenges

G&L Coatings and Sandblasting won the bid on the project. These tanks are all in one central location and were scheduled to be drained and renovated at the same time. This would put a severe strain on the city’s water supply, so a quick project timeline was paramount. 

The coatings solution

The coating system specified would not only provide long-term protection for the three ground storage tanks, but also allow the tanks to be returned to service quicker. 

Interior system: 

  • Full SSPC- SP-10 Blast
  • Primer: Induron’s Ceramaprime applied at 2.5-3.5 DFT
  • Stripe coat: Induron’s PE-70 White
  • Finish: PermaClean 100 applied at 25-30 DFT. 

Exterior system: 

  • SSPC- SP6 Commercial blast
  • Primer: Ceramaprime applied at 2.5-3.5 DFT 
  • Intermediate Coat: Perma Clean 2 epoxy applied at 2.0-3.0 DFT 
  • Finish coat of Indurathane 6600 applied at 2.0-3.0 DFT

The project was set to start in April of 2022 with the largest tank first then moving on to the two smaller tanks. 

Once the 1.5 MG GST tank was drained and fully inspected, we decided the interior of that tank was in great shape! This conclusion immediately started the discussion of speeding up the project by not coating the interior as planned. G&L already had the containment system installed on that tank. As a result of this decision, the roof of the tank was the only area that was showing any kind of wear–some rusting and a few delamination spots. Consequently, we decided to do a full interior clean out, spot blast and prime of all the roof structure and beams, and apply a full coat of PE-70 to the roof. 

This solution allowed for G&L to decrease the total cost of the project by $100,000 and allowed the city of Helena to put their tank back into service 3 weeks sooner than expected. Working so closely with the owner, engineer and contractor allowed the very best outcome for everyone involved. The project ended up finishing about 1 month ahead of schedule and allowed Helena to take pressure off their water system by putting those tanks back in service much faster than anticipated. 

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