PVC lining helps protect drinking water supply
A
RTP Company product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Jun 26, 2008
The 40mm PVC liner system, custom made for the Ada tank in Oklahoma, measured 73 x 73 x 7.5m with 144 boots for support columns.
When the city of Ada, Oklahoma found that its two potable water tanks were deteriorating and in danger of leaking, it decided to line the tanks with a PVC liner system.
The city chose an FDA-compliant material from RTP Company's Sheet and Film Division that is RF-sealable during onsite installation and certified to NSF/ANSI Standard 61 for Drinking Water Systems.
"The fact that the liner system was RF-sealable was very important", said Ken Kane, Plant Manager for Fab-Seal Industrial Liners, the company that fabricated and installed the liner.
"RF sealing basically melts the two surfaces lapped together into one piece using radio waves to generate the heat required to melt the PVC".
RF sealing was done on individual sections at the factory.
These sections were then rolled and taken to the site for installation.
Like a large jigsaw puzzle, the sections were then installed and further heat-sealed.
The 40mm PVC liner system, custom made for the Ada tank, measured 73 x 73 x 7.5m with 144 boots for support columns.
"To give an idea of the size, the city of Ada's eight tennis courts were located on the roof of the tanks" Kane said.
The PVC liner material uses a nonDEHP plasticiser to make it flexible so that it installs easily.
"As a fabricator, the consistency in the width of the material and its flexibility are very important" Kane said.
"With the RTP company material, the liner easily conformed to the floor and sidewall slope, allowing a better fit".
An important advantage of the RTP company material is that it is extruded rather than calendared.
According to Peter Ploumidis, General Manager of RTP company's Sheet and Film Division, "Extruded films are a little more expensive to produce but much more consistent in terms of thickness and properties".
RTPCcompany's exacting cast film extrusion process ensures that the products have superior quality, no pinholes and greater uniformity.
"With industrial liners, uniformity is critical", added Ploumidis.
According to Kane, a coating system would not have solved the problem of cracking in the concrete.
"A coating is not flexible enough to permanently seal over the cracks and it would eventually crack itself, whereas the PVC liner has a 350% elongation factor and would prevent that problem by flowing into the crack area".
A year after the liner installation was complete, Fab-Seal returned to conduct a routine inspection of the tank.
"We found everything to be in fantastic shape", said Kane.
"Lining the old concrete tanks will add years to the entire water system and prevent the immediate need to spend more dollars on the construction of new tanks".
"It is saving the city a lot of money".
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