They specified a major league coating system from Tnemec for a 250,000-gallon spheroid water tank resembling a gigantic baseball.
The Charlotte Knights Triple-A team for the Chicago White Sox and York County in South Carolina scored a home run for fans and residents when they specified a major league coating system from Tnemec for a 250,000-gallon spheroid water tank resembling a gigantic baseball. “The water tank is viewed by thousands of travelers along Interstate 77 near the Knights Stadium,” Tnemec coating consultant Nick Vause explained. “It was showing signs of aging, so Tnemec’s HydroFlon fluoropolymer coating system was specified to restore the popular landmark.”
The tank’s exterior steel was power-washed to strip off all loose paint, rust, dirt, scale and foreign matter, and prepared in accordance with SSPC SP-3 Power Tool Cleaning to remove rust and corrosion and to feather the edges. The exterior was primed with 30 gallons of Series 135 Chembuild, a modified polyamine epoxy for marginally prepared steel and tightly adhering old coatings. Another 30 gallons of Series 73 Endura-Shield, an aliphatic acrylic polyurethane, were applied as the intermediate coat to provide additional film thickness for corrosion resistance.
Nearly 50 gallons of Series 700 HydroFlon, an advanced fluoropolymer polyurethane, were applied as the finish coat. “HydroFlon was used to bring the tank’s signature baseball logo back to life and return it to showpiece condition,” Vause noted. “HydroFlon was specified for its long-term gloss and color retention and outstanding resistance to ultraviolet (UV) light. The tank sits on a frontage road next to the heavily travelled I-77 that connects North and South Carolina just below Charlotte, so extreme caution had to be used throughout the project.”
A complete rehabilitation was required on the interior of the tank. Interior steel was prepared in accordance with SSPC SP-10/NACE No. 2 Near-White Blast Cleaning and primed with 25 gallons of Series 91-H2O Hydro-Zinc, a zinc-rich urethane, which was spray-applied. A total of 65-gallons of Series N140 Pota-Pox Plus, a polyamidoamine epoxy, were used for the interior coating system. Both Series 91-H2O and Series N140 are certified in accordance with NSF/ANSI Standard 61 for use on interior potable water tanks.
The cost of repairs and recoating the water tank was shared by York County and the Charlotte Knights baseball team, which draws an annual attendance of more than 320,000 fans to Knights Stadium located in Fort Mill, South Carolina. The tank was selected as a runner-up in the 2011 Tnemec Tank of the Year competition for its unique graphic design.
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