Fire Safety Fueled by SPF

Fire isn’t a word anyone in the spray polyurethane foam (SPF) industry wants to hear. However, when a major home improvement chain started to discuss fire, it wasn’t in reaction to, but as precaution for a problem.

To create a completely safe environment for the workers and patrons of this Quincy, Illinois, store (as well as adhere to code and insurance requirements), the owners had a new, steel tank built. It was intended to hold the 200,000 gallons (757,082.4 liters) of water needed to fuel the indoor fire suppression sprinkler system.

“If the city can’t provide them with enough water and pressure in case the worst happens (such as a fire), they have to put in these water storage tanks dedicated solely for fire protection,” explained Pittsburg Tank and Tower Company, Inc.’s Vice President, Rick DiZinno. The tank was 27 feet wide (8.2 m) and 24 feet tall (7.3 m). Established in 1919, Pittsburg Tank fabricated the tank in their shop in Henderson, Kentucky, shipped it in big pieces to the store’s location, and erected the tank on site.



With fire safety as the goal for the home improvement store, the owners chose SPF and the contractors at Bolash Roofing and Construction, Inc. to help ensure that the water didn’t freeze during the Midwest winter months. As DiZinno suggested, water pipes and ice don’t go well together. “If ice forms,” he explained, “it can damage the tank and render it inoperable when the fire pump kicks on during a fire.”

For the safety of everyone in the store, using SPF on the turnkey tank was an essential element. 
   
A Water-Tight Plan

This SPF crew had foamed several tanks (some as tall as 48 feet or 14.6 meters) for the same company in the years leading up to this job. To continue their great track record and relationship with the company, they hoped it would run as smoothly as the previous jobs had. Attention to detail proved to be essential to the success of this job.

For the three-man crew from Bolash, they put their best foot forward starting the very first day by being on time and ready to go.

Because the tank was located in an open field near the Mississippi River, this spray job required fewer precautions than other jobs. For four days, they arrived at the site at 7 a.m. with equipment on hand. Before the store could open for business, all 2,640 square feet (245.3 m²) that comprised the tank’s surface area needed to be prepped, foamed, and coated. Although they still needed to protect any of the exterior surface not intended to be foamed, there were no cars nearby to cover. It took the crew four hours that first day to tape plastic on any fixtures and pumps where a hose would be hooked up.

“We didn’t have any problems at all,” said Mike Bolash, owner of Bolash Roofing. “The building wasn’t even open yet.” That meant the crew was able to get right to their next step. 

So far, the job was fast-flowing.
     
Wake-Free Zone

Carrying an H-2000 Gusmer proportioner and 210 feet (64.0 m) of hose, the SPF crew started spraying the 2.7-pound (1.2 kg) 348 closed-cell roofing foam from BASF Polyurethane Foam Enterprises (PFE) in a vertical stripe-type manner. Since they were forced to work mainly in a JLG lift, this striping of foam made application a bit faster. (Less side-to-side motion meant less time spiraling around the tank.) Having the sprayer wear a full-body harness while in the lift allowed him to focus solely on spraying.

Until around 4 p.m. that afternoon, the two sprayers worked around the tank with a Gusmer GX7 gun and 90 tip. With one man in the lift spraying and one man controlling the lift, they were able to complete the 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) of SPF on the tank in one 24-hour period. The next morning, they returned to complete the two three-quarter-inch (1.9 cm) passes of foam. The whole time, they made sure to keep their battery-powered, self-contained breathing hoods and spun-woven suits on.

“We checked the thickness as we went,” Bolash said. To do that, they used a regular foam needle depth gauge in random sections of the cured foam. This helped ensure that the tank would have a smooth, even look when finished. If any areas weren’t even, the crew trimmed the foam down and patched it with the coating that was soon to cover the entire tank.

When they had a level tank, the crew started the “fast” part of the job: applying the coatings.

Putting Out the Flames

Within five hours, the first coating was completed. They used a SpeeFlo HydraPro 4 sprayer with 150 feet (45.7 m) of hose to apply Conklin’s Rapid Roof 3 Acrylic Elastomeric coating. The first coat went on at 1.9 gallons (7.2 liters) per 100 square feet (9.3 m²) with the sprayer and with back rolling, as per manufacturer specifications. This meant that before the coat was left to cure overnight, any nooks and crannies on the surface of the tank were sealed.

Unlike the nine other tanks in Illinois that the Bolash crew foamed during that summer, this job site offered excellent weather. With little wind, the foam and coatings went on quite smoothly.

The next day, the crew returned to apply the second (and final) coat of the light gray-colored material. They used the same equipment, including a 635 tip, to achieve a final thickness of 26 mils (.7 mm) DFT. It went on in the same manner that the previous two steps did — up and down — until they’d completely insulated and coated the tank.
 

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