Underground Fuel Tank Lining

GRP Fuel Tank Refurbishment

3 underground fuel tanks at a service station in Devon needed some much-needed refurbishment. There were reports of some losses in the first Vessel. This was taken off-line as a result, and the fuel removed to another vessel.

SLS carried out a BA entry to clean the Vessel so they would be able to carry out an internal inspection of the tank. On removal of the sludge, severe corrosion to the base of the vessel was evident. This had meant the vessel had had water in the base for a long while. Specialist Lining Services by Eurotank informed the client that the tank was repairable but would need a structural lining. This would consist of our 1.5mm GRP lining to the top and the middle of the vessel. Furthermore, a 12mm extra reinforced grp base would need adding where the corrosion had attacked the steel for strength.

Preparation for an Underground Fuel Tank Lining

Unfortunately, the liquid was returning into the vessel via the perforations on the base. We utilized bolts and rivets to stop the ingress. The vessel was then washed again, solvent cleaned, and grit blasted to SA2.5. Finally, we cleaned it and primed the vessel with Resin. After installation of our structural GRP lining, a pinhole test using our certified Elcometer 266 pinhole detector was carried out. We repaired any defects found before fully post-curing the tank using our indirect fired hot air heater.

As planned maintenance, the other two remaining vessels were done as a precaution. There were no reported losses on this vessel by the service station. SLS made a BA manned entry into the Vessel after an ADR suction tanker had removed the liquid remaining at the base of the vessel, and began cleaning using the jetter. What appeared to be sludge was in fact heavy thick corrosion attached to the base in both vessels. The corrosion was around 5cm thick which in fact would show that the bases of these vessels had water ingress or had contained water at the base for some time.

The site team continued with the jetting of the tanks and discovered both vessels contained holes. To our client’s surprise, the worst of these had 20 holes on the base. The corrosion itself was merely stopping the tanks from leaking, so a good shout by the owner of the forecourt to line these tanks as a precaution. The structural GRP underground fuel tank lining was installed. Both Vessels were Pinhole checked, and post-cured before the handover. The repair of all 3 Vessels took 12 days to complete by a team of 3 Trained operatives.

Maintaining an Underground Fuel Tank

Periodic cleaning & inspections of underground fuel tanks are very important. SLS offers professional cleaning & inspections of all vessels. In addition, we can also offer underground fuel tank lining systems to safeguard your assets.