The Client

Oil Export Company Offices, EdinburghLeaking Fibreglass Water Tank.We were contacted by the facilities management company on behalf of their client, an oil export company that had problems with a small fibreglass water tank in the roof void in their Edinburgh office.The tank in question was fibreglass bolted sectional panel water tank that was starting to leak from the panel joints.

Challenges

All works had to be completed within a single weekend and the tank water was tested and ready back in service before Monday because the tank supplied water to the office toilets.

Over time different attempts had been made at repairing the leaks in this tank, none of which had lasted.

The latest repair to the tank appeared to have been a chalking type of well-known commercial flexible joint sealer. This type of sealer is fine for splash contact, but not suitable for immersion conditions and the tank was starting to leak again from the joints.

The location of the leaks was not easily identifiable.

Solution

We arrived on site Friday late afternoon as the tank was being drained.

Whilst the last of the water was draining away we set up our equipment, and once the majority of the water was drained out, our confided space trained team entered the tank to remove the final traces of water, cleaned and dried the tank ready for the repair works the next day. The tank was left to dry overnight.

On the Saturday morning we removed the old flexible caulking joint filler from all the joints, abraded the joints and areas adjacent to the joints.

We cleaned the tank by brush and vacuum ready for application of our joint repair system.

Our water tank joint repair system comprises of several different resin layers and also woven fibreglass reinforcement bandage.

Our flexible impervious 2 pack resin based joint repair system especially developed for leaking joints such those found in this water tank.

The work is finished in light blue colour.

For commercial reasons we are unable to show all the different stages of the process, materials and technologies involved.

However we will say that we
have never had a tank leak that has been treated with our tank joint repair
system.

If it had been required and had sufficient time been available, we could also have lined the entire water tank with the same light blue finish. 

The Results

First thing Sunday morning we checked all of the treated joints then applied one final coat and 3 hours later we were refilling the water tank to test the integrity of the work carried out and for the tank to be ready for the client Monday morning.

Our strong, yet flexible, system will rejuvenated this tank for many years to come.

The work that we carried
out will extended the working life of this fibreglass water tank by another 15
+ years without problem, with regular maintenance checks.