In accordance with ESPC's warranty we provide inspection of the tank interior and exterior after one year of tank service. A written report is provided to the owner. Call us to schedule inspection of your Aquastore® tank. The American Water Works Association recommends that tanks be completely inspected every five years to assure maximum life and reduced maintenance downtime.

Ask us about adding cellular or emergency radio antennas to your Aquastore® or TecStore™ tank (see photos below).

The Aquastore® brand of glass-coated, bolted-steel tank has significantly lower coating maintenance costs as compared to welded or bolted steel tanks with paint coatings. ESPC's borosilicate glass formulation, which includes cobalt oxide and titanium dioxide, is inert and chemically bonds to the steel when the panels are "fired" in a furnace at about 1600ºF. It is the chemical bond achieved in the furnace that results in a coating adherence of approximately 5,000 PSI which is over 10 times the bond strength of field applied or factory baked-on paint coatings.

Until recent developments, glass coated tank panel manufacturers had not been able to solve the challenge of how to apply and maintain glass evenly on the edges of the panel. The panels had a uniform glass coating thickness on the interior and exterior surfaces but very little on the edge of the panel. This sheet edge was protected by a urethane sealant applied in the field during the tank construction process.

Engineered Storage Products Company (ESPC) worked on the panel edge coating challenge for years and spent millions of dollars in research, development, tooling and testing before they introduced EDGECOAT™ process for Aquastore tank in August 1996. All Aquastore tanks manufactured after August 1, 1996 have panels that have been:

• Mechanically rounded by abrasive belt grinders
  
• Flame sprayed with stainless steel
  
• Glass coated just like the flat panel surfaces

Aquastore tanks manufactured prior to August 1996 will require periodic re-coating of the interior edge of the tank sidewall panels. The time interval before this service needs to be performed varies depending on operating conditions such as:

• Diameter vs. height ratio of the tank
  
• How the tank is operated during winter icing conditions
  
• Initial tank chlorination procedure and chlorine levels of the stored water during tank operation
  
• Characteristics of the water being stored

After the tank owner/operator empties the tank and cleans out any silt build-up, our crew would come in and:

• Set-up scaffolding or swing staging (window-washing type hanging scaffolding) inside the tank
  
• Scrape off the residual sealant from the interior sidewall panels edges
  
• Prepare the sheet edge with a rotary wire brush
  
• Re-apply and shape the urethane sealant over the interior edge of the tank panel
  
• The sealant used to re-coat the panel edge is the same sealant that is now used to build new Aquastore® tanks. This is a one component, moisture cured urethane sealant that is NSF-61 certified for potable water contact.
  
• Remove the scaffolding or staging and clean the tank floor
  
• Once the sealant cures, the tank could then be filled, sterilized and put back into service by the owner/operator

It will take about two days to re-coat the inside panel edges on an average size tank. This assumes that the tank has been drained and any silt removed prior to our arrival. An additional two to three days may be required to cure the sealant before you should start refilling and steriliziing the tank. In cold, low humidity weather curing of the sealer can take longer. However, we do not intend to do this work in the winter because of the unpredictability of the weather.

MASSI will do the re-coating of the interior panel edges on your tank at a fixed cost per panel depending upon the tank height. Please contact John Fox, General Manager -- (740) 335-2019 or john@midatlanticstorage.com -- for a cost work-up for your tank.

When compared to repainting the interior of a welded steel tank, re-coating the interior tank panel edges of the glass coated Aquastore® tank is a small expense. The interior panel edge re-coating is expected to last longer than the interior painting cycles of a conventional welded tank. Several factors mentioned previously affect the re-coating cycle time for both tanks. You may be able to change some operational practices to increase the cycle time for both types of tanks. We would be pleased to discuss these practices with you.