Aqua Pennsylvania scheduled a complete repainting for two 250,000 gallon Wash Water Tanks in late summer/early fall of 2020 as a part of its ongoing tank maintenance program. Each tank was to be completely blast cleaned (interior SP 10 near white blast; exterior SP 6 commercial blast); however different prime coats were applied to each tank.
The Coatings Specification
Induron Sales Representative Tex Enoch worked with Jamie Stoltzfus with I.K. Stoltzfus Service Company to specify Induron’s Indurazinc MC67 zinc rich moisture-cured urethane primer for one tank and Ceramaprime for both interior and exterior surfaces of the second tank. The rest of the coating system remained the same on both tanks:
- Interior:
- Stripe Coat: Induron PE 70 Epoxy Tank Liner
- Finish Coat: Induron PermaClean 100 @ 25 – 35 mils DFT
- Exterior:
- Intermediate: Induron PE70 Epoxy @ 2 – 4 mils DFT
- Finish Coat: Induron Permagloss Flurourethane @ 2.0 – 4.0 mils DFT
The Advantages of Ceramaprime
The purpose of this differing specification was to compare the efficacy of the two prime coats applied to identical surfaces and service environments. The advantage of using moisture-cured zinc coatings as prime coats is their quick-dry capability, which allows the contractor to blast adjoining surfaces the next day without fear of contaminating the areas primed the previous day. However, Ceramaprime matched the quick-dry capabilities of the zinc prime coat and provided the following advantages:
- Ceramaprime is half the weight of zinc, which allows for easier pumping.
- With Ceramaprime, there is no need for continuous mixing to ensure the zinc stays in suspension.
- Ceramaprime is considerably less expensive than zinc rich primers.
- With Ceramaprime, there is no long-term fear that zinc might be banned in contact with potable water because it is a heavy metal.
- Ceramaprime has no isocyanates eliminates the potential deleterious allergic reactions caused by urethane products.
- Lastly, Ceramaprime greatly increases productivity.
The advantages of Ceramaprime were confirmed by Jamie Stoltzfus, the project foreman, who said, “There was considerable savings using the Ceramaprime due to its favorable application properties.”
