When the City of Anderson dedicated its two new 500,000 gallon water tanks that mimic a pair of hot air balloons, the project captured the public’s imagination with its creative designs and colorful protective coating system from Tnemec. “The designs are an ingenious way for the City of Anderson to promote its annual hot air balloon festival,” acknowledged Tnemec consultant Dan Anderson. “The novelty of the designs and their significance to the community resulted in the project being selected by Tnemec as the winner of the 2007 Tnemec Tank of the Year contest.”  The pedestal tanks feature multiple colors arranged in vertical striping that is typical of many hot air balloons with their stems painted to resemble passengers in a basket. “People and communities are taking pride in the designs and logos that appear on their tanks.” Anderson noted. “We’re seeing more and more creativity being used on the exterior of municipal water tanks as owners realize the value of their image.”

The steel tanks were fabricated by CB&I Constructors in Alpharetta, Ga. Surface preparation was in accordance with SSPC-SP10/NACE No. 2 Near-White Metal Blast Cleaning for the interior and SSPC-SP6/NACE No. 3 Commercial Blast Cleaning for the exterior. Next, the interior and exterior steel were shop-primed with Series 91-H2 O Hydro-Zinc, a two-component moisture cured, zinc-rich aromatic urethane primer, that provides outstanding long-term corrosion resistance.

Following assembly, the interior of both tanks received two coats of Series 20 Pota-Pox, a polyamide epoxy. The exteriors received an intermediate coat of Series 66 Hi-Build Epoxoline, a polyamide epoxy, followed by a coat of Series 73 EnduraShield, an aliphatic acrylic polyurethane. A clear coat of Series 76 Endura-Clear, an aliphatic acrylic polyurethane, was roller-applied to extend the long-term weathering properties of the Endura-Shield topcoat.

Public reaction to the tanks has been very positive, reported Jeffrey Caldwell, P.E., director of the city’s utility company which owns the tanks. “The citizens I’ve heard from like the designs,” Caldwell noted. “We’re very happy with the way the tanks turned out and it’s an honor to receive the Tank of the Year award. I’m glad we had a project that allowed us to use this type of design.”

The Great Southeast BalloonFest in Anderson attracts dozens of competitive ballooners from across the country over the Labor Day weekend and is a sanctioned ballooning competition.