chemical concentrate leak

[Jimmy Buffett]

I have a JC Supersaver pump bench. We have been open about 7 years now. One of the chemical holding tanks leaked nearly from the start and now the presoak is leaking. Has anybody else had a similar problem? I paid way too much money for that thing to have it not even hold chemical!

 

[pitzerwm]

Are these leaks just a failed weld, or a metal failure?

 

[Jimmy Buffett]

Are these leaks just a failed weld, or a metal failure?

I'm reasonably certain that it is the welds but I'm not positive. My chemical guy just bypassed the holding tank on the trifoam. I guess I'll need to do the same for the presoak. They offered to fix it years ago if I would send it back to them. Wonder how often somebody takes them up on that.

 

[pitzerwm]

Find someone with a wire feed welder and have him come in and fix them, shouldn't cost much.

 

[mjc3333]

Jimmy, I had a similar problem with my SS holding tanks from Monorail. The hot water, soap, and wax tank are one in the same. Its one big square holding tank with two dividers for the soap and the wax. I had the soap leak into the hot water portion of the tank for quite a while. I did not discover it because there was not a leak on the floor during this time. The SS weld actually cracked from what I do not know. I ended up using a bonding concrete epoxy on the cracked weld. It was very effective and quite cheap. I ground down the SS to rough it up, and then pumped the two part epoxy into the cracked area. Let it dry over night and voilà!, no more leaks. I also did this to the outside wall of the wax portion of the tank years ago. The chemical (soap or wax) does have an effect on the epoxy, but it takes at least 7-10 years to react with the epoxy "lifting" it from the SS tank. My solution, dry out the tank, grind it down again, and re-epoxy for another ~ 10 years.

Oh, I did try to weld the tank with my MIG welder without much luck. The SS was so brittle, the welder would blow a hole in the side of the tank. I had an expert welder try to fix one of the cracks with a plate with the same results. He would blow right through the SS.

I priced out a new tank before Monorail went belly up about 7 years ago and was certainly shocked at the $2500 price tag.

I can get you the info on the epoxy if you want to try this.

 

[MEP001]

Coleman does have a lifetime guarantee on their welds. I guess it depends on how big a problem it would be for you to remove the tank from service and ship it to them at your cost as to whether or not it's worth doing it.

 

[Tom Thumb]

I have had Coleman repair one of my chemical tanks, the cost for shipping is killer, that is why I am looking for a used one now.
I feel I can get them re-welder here for a lot less.
Both of my tanks are on the water wizard not ss. I believe they cracks are due to the vibrations on the stands, because the Cat 3535 is mounted on the bottom of the same stand.

 

[washnvac]

I bought an existing wash that has Coleman. My first impression was that they are in business to sell stainless steel. On the first day I got rid of the chemical concentrate tank; and went to drums. Luckily it was at a time when good stainless was bringing $.90/lb. at the recycle place. The dilution tanks are barely big enough to get a hand in there to work on anything. Their stuff would not be my first purchase choice, that is for sure.

 

[Reds]

A big part of the problem with the holding tank welds is that JC fuses them with a TIG welder - that is does not add any filler wire when welding them. If some filler wire was used it would add a lot of strength to the weld bead itself. The way to repair them is with a TIG welder since they are made of 16 or 18 guage stainless. Most of the compartments are so narrow that you cannot get inside of them with any kind of equipment to weld the seams if they are leaking internally. I have both SS and WW concentrate tanks from JC that I am not using that are in like new condition. If someone wants them for scrap value plus shipping send me a PM. I will let the tanks go but not the stand that they sat on. I have been holding them waiting for the price of SS scrap to go back up. I went to drums for convenience reasons only. The only failed welds that I have are on the baffle in the rinse tank (also fused), but they are accessible.

 

[Greg Pack]

Jimmy, I know a lot of operators have just yanked the concentrate tanks out, They then just run the hydrominders in the buckets. It's not as slick looking but is a lot more practical.

Coleman has had a long standing relationship with turtle wax, hence the small concentrate holding tanks in the SS.

 

[Jimmy Buffett]

My chemical guy rigged my trifoam that way, the pails just sit on the floor. I'll just do the same withy presoak I guess. It's very annoying that I paid a premium for JC equipment and it won't even hold liquid.