Tank and vessel exteriors: where maintenance money goes furthest

Blanket recoating a tank exterior is expensive and frequently unnecessary. Corrosion on vessels concentrates, and the concentrations are predictable.

Where it actually happens

• The base and chime, where water sits and where the tank meets its foundation.
• Under insulation, if there is any — corrosion under insulation is the classic hidden failure.
• Around nozzles, manways and attachments, where coating is thinnest and geometry is complex.
• Ladders, platforms and handrails, which corrode faster than the shell and are a safety issue rather than an aesthetic one.
• Anywhere runoff concentrates off the roof.

The maintenance argument

Spot-preparing and coating those areas on a cycle costs a fraction of a full recoat and prevents the localised failures that eventually force one. The decision to fully recoat should be driven by the overall condition of the film, not by a few bad areas.

Access is the cost driver

On tanks, the surface preparation is usually the smaller part of the number. Staging, access and containment are the rest of it.

Tanks and vessels sitting on leases across Cypress County and out toward Suffield take wind-driven grit year round, which wears a coating from the windward side long before the rest of the vessel shows anything.