Chitty Water Tank Coating Rehabilitation

The project involved coating rehabilitation for a 10 million gallon steel water tank.  The original coating system failed design specifications causing a number of concerns. How long would the water tank would be out of service? Would the waste generated during removal of the existing coating materials require landfill disposal? Most important, would the new coating system  contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particularly for the inside of the water tank?

S&ME assessed the current condition of the tank and provided engineering recommendations for the tank coating rehabilitation. Our team recommended removing the existing coating system using a blast track machine and a recycled blast media.  This process produces less waste and is more environmentally friendly than other removal methods, which was important considering the close proximity of the tank to residential and commercial properties.

S&ME also recommended a highly flexible one coat system manufactured by the Sherwin Williams Company. This system is more cost effective than the more commonly used three coat systems that require a primer, intermediate, and topcoat.  The one coat system resulted in a shorter coating application time and therefore shortened the ‘out of service’ timeframe for the water tank.  The selected one coat system has properties that provide a 30-year service life and contain 100 percent solids technology.  Therefore, volatile organic compounds were not released in the water tank interior.