During a recent compliance upgrade project at a large refinery, government mandates threatened to cost a potential customer a great deal of time, planning, and expense. Regulations required that this refinery's drain sumps be fitted with seals to prevent fugitive emissions. These drain openings were large and numerous, and they were extremely corroded, with parts of the original vapor trap system missing.

An idea of the sewer-drain problem this refinery was facing can be gathered from the illustration at left.

This refinery's original plan was to clear the drain areas of any obstructing equipment, isolate and clear the sewer system, and fabricate new drain sumps. This would have involved digging-up and removing the drain sumps and welding in the new. After excavation and refill, the whole area would then have had to be repaved. All this would have required a shutdown and the utilization of a great deal of highly skilled labor. A lot of time and money was at stake.

When NsertAseal was called and visited the plant, we came up with an innovative solution. We developed a special pneumatic cutting tool to trim and clean the corroded drain openings. Then we designed and cast special water seal inserts that could be installed with sealant into newly prepared drain openings. These inserts renewed the drain sumps instantly with no loss of flow. Even the valuable original gratings were able to be reused.

Since approximately 1000 openings were corrected, savings were massive. Our recommendations and know-how saved this grateful customer literally hundreds of thousands of dollars.