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Life in the 21-st century moves at such a pace that we tend to take for granted the ongoing operations of our equipment. Our older machine that runs like a top; the systems that haven’t been serviced in a few years; the jam-packed storage room; et cetera. Regular maintenance might seem like an interruption of our daily plans, but without it we’re going on borrowed time. At some point, a belt is going to snap, a line is going to clog, a tank is going to leak, and then you’ve got real problems.

Recently we went on site to do a confined space entry tank cleaning job for a major chemical company. Wastewater and sludge filled the 40,000-gallon tank, which hadn’t been cleaned in more than 15 years yet seemed to be working fine. It showed no signs of leaking. We estimated a one-day job requiring two vacuum boxes and our industrial air mover vacuum truck.

That’s fairly typical for a tank like this. It looked like all the others on site: modular, made of bands of steel bolted on top of each other. Normally, these are set on platforms bolted to the ground. The customer’s infrared sensors had been calibrated to the tanks’ bottoms, and everything looked okay. As far as the customer knew, this tank was just like all the others.

Except it wasn’t. And no one could tell just by looking at it.

We began the job of cleaning the tank. Our technicians pumped out all the water, removed it from the site, and took it to our plant to be treated. However, an unforeseen situation awaited us: it turned out that the bottom of the tank was cone shaped and extended four feet below ground. Moreover, the residual sludge wasn’t slushy, like it normally is. Instead, it was impacted to such a degree that it had formed into dense clay as rigid as the bottom of a tank. In fact, we couldn’t immediately pinpoint the actual bottom of the tank.

We met with the customer to discuss the situation, and they decided to continue the job. It didn’t make sense to stop work: the customer needed the tank and the tank needed to be thoroughly cleaned. The tank’s condition, however, changed the scope of work, since both the volume and the density of the material was dramatically different from what anyone had expected. We had to make alterations in the job’s duration, number of vac boxes required, waste transportation, and disposal procedures.

We immediately mobilized extra vacuum boxes to contain all the sludge. Next, we used the pressure washer to “cut” the clay-like sludge into pieces to make vacuuming easier. The sludge packed six vac boxes – each of which holds 16 tons of material. Finally, we pressure washed the entire tank and transported the waste material to our treatment facility.

Now this particular tank is clean and good to go. The customer recalibrated their equipment to measure accurately this tank’s contents and established a consistent cleaning schedule to keep all their tanks in good working order.

Why wait “til it’s broke”? Routine maintenance programs reduce unplanned plant shutdowns, equipment breakdowns, and production delays. But just as importantly, such schedules reduce company costs, since the price tag for routine maintenance is much less than a complete overhaul and possible remediation.

Do you have a regular cleaning schedule at your plant? Launch the new year by talking with one of our sales reps about the benefits of starting one. You’ll save time, headaches, and money. Call us at 800-399-2783 or send us an email at info@envremedies.com