SHOULD OUTLETS BE BUILT IN OR MADE SEPARATE

Witt flexible PVC tank liners can be built to handle accoutrements like outlets, sumps, manways, etc. The questions often asked is, “should they be built into the liner or made separate and field installed?” The answer is both – depending upon a number of factors.

Something like an outlet, for example, is made as a spool piece to a certain diameter, length, and a flange face one each end. One end of the flange face needs to be welded to the body of the liner and the other flange face flares out across the flange face of the pipe fitting. A liner can be made with the outlet already in place and installed accordingly or the outlet can be made separate. Once the main liner is installed a hole is cut out of the liner and the outlet installed and welded to the liner.

If there are only one or two outlets on the liner and they are easily accessible near the top of the tank it usually makes sense to build the outlets into the liner. This saves the time of having to weld them into the liner after installation.

Outlets that are located closer to the bottom of the tank can be a little trickier to guide into place when built into the liner. Similarly, when there are several outlets involved it can make it hard to properly seat the liner and get the outlets in place at the same time. In these cases it can make more sense to attach the outlets once the liner is installed.

Whoever is performing the installation should asses the parameters of the total installation and determine what makes the most sense for the particular installation. Of course, our experienced team of fabricators is always available to assist in this process.