Many people don’t think about their water tank repairs schedule until something goes wrong. However, there are steps you can take to head off inconvenient, costly water tank malfunctions. Read more »

FRP Repairs and Fabrication Make Residential Power More Reliable

Utility poles have not changed a whole lot over the years in the United States. They are still primarily made from wood, which makes them sustainable and easy to manufacture. They aren’t perfect, however. As reliable as a wooden utility pole can be, it is still made from a substance that breaks down over time and is vulnerable to the elements. Standard electrical poles will sustain damage when they reach the end of their 30-year lifespan and need to be replaced. Maintaining and replacing utility poles is a significant job.

While wooden utility poles are still the norm throughout the United States, there are other options that have proven to be much more useful and reliable, chief among them is fiberglass-reinforced plastic, or FRP. Using fiberglass repairs like FRP wraps and even utility poles fabricated with fiber reinforced plastic can improve reliability and reduce repair frequency and cost.

What is FRP?

Fiberglass-reinforced plastic is a composite material made from a polymer that is reinforced with fibers, think carbon fiber. FRP was first used in utility poles in Maui in the 1960s, but it didn’t become widely used until relatively recently when modern manufacturing technology enabled lower cost FRP utility pole construction and improved techniques for FRP repairs in the field.

What are the Advantages of FRP Over Wooden Utility Poles

The biggest advantage that FRP has over wood is its durability and longevity. While wooden utility poles generally have a lifespan of 30 years, FRP poles and FRP wraps can last as long as 80 years before they need to be replaced. Wooden utility poles are also vulnerable to rot as well as birds and insects that bore into them, something that cannot be said for an FRP pole. FRP is also becoming much cheaper to manufacture, and the poles themselves can be installed quickly and easily. FRP may not have the sustainability of wood, but it really is the next best thing. With time, the FRP manufacturing process will become easy enough that FRP utility poles could become more convenient and cost effective than wood.

If the process of replacing a wooden utility pole with an FRP pole seems like too much unnecessary work, you might be happy to learn that fiberglass repairs using FRP wraps can be used to repair or protect wooden utility poles and provide similar benefits of an FRP pole by protecting the wood pole with a coating of fiber reinforced plastic, particularly around compromised areas of the poles. FRP wraps are easier to manufacture than an entire pole, and they can be used to extend the life of an existing wooden pole by installing an FRP wrap in the field as needed or as a preventative measure.

FRP Repairs and FRP Wraps May Give Way to Full FRP Utility Poles

Even though wooden utility poles still vastly outnumber FRP poles, FRP might still represent the future of our country’s energy grid. As FRP becomes easier and more cost-effective to manufacture, we will almost certainly begin seeing more of it in our utility poles in the future. Picon FRP is a local FRP expert serving the San Francisco Bay Area, if your aging infrastructure needs inspection, repairs, or replacement we can help provide solutions for you including FRP wraps, industrial coatings, tank linings, trailer linings, and much more. Contact us online or by phone at 510-232-0065

Insulated Storage Tank Linings Need Regular Inspection and Maintenance

API 653 standards for insulated tank repairs and inspections have been in place since the 1990s after storage tank failures may have contributed to environmental damage. These standards have made many storage tanks and tank linings safer and more efficient, but keeping up with API 653 standards can make repairs and inspections much more expensive. There is obviously a good reason for these standards, and ignoring them to save time and money is far more disastrous. If you have a facility that relies on insulated storage tanks, here are some of the best practices if you want to keep them in good condition and up to the proper standards. Read more »

What Makes FRP a Good Choice for Concrete Strengthening

Individually, carbon fibers are five times stronger than steel, and when those carbon fibers are impregnated with an epoxy resin, it forms a composite which makes anything it sticks to, considerably stronger. This obviously has some tremendous commercial applications, including tank leak repairs, concrete strengthening, water tank repairs in the Bay Area, and a great many construction applications. Anything in need of a low-weight, high-strength material to reinforce its natural qualities would benefit from having the CFRP composite applied to it. Here are some of the benefits of using CFRP for commercial purposes. Read more »

It’s very important that storage tanks used in the petrochemical industry maintain structural soundness, both for the sake of public safety, and for environmental safety. The most common material used to build storage tanks is steel, primarily because of its tremendous strength, but that strength does not make it impervious to the damaging effects of corrosion. For that reason, it’s necessary for tank linings to be given protective coatings to help avoid corrosion. Read more »

Bay Area Project Sandblasting Steel Boxes

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FRP, which stands for fiber-reinforced polymer systems, are lightweight and strong reinforcements. To create an FRP, it is necessary to blend a polymer material with e-glass fibers or a type of combining carbon. The most typical industries to use FRP to date include aerospace, automotive, and civil. That is because these industries rely on a higher than normal strength-to-weight rigidity and ratios. Read more »

Mobile Sandblasting and Abrasive Blasting

Step 1: Abrasive Blasting

• Our engineering staff will select the appropriate abrasive
• We have a truck mounted sandblast system that will take care of all your mobile sand blasting and abrasive blasting needs. We have specialty, thick hoses that can reach up to 200 feet and give 90 psi level pressures at the blast nozzle.

Step 2: Spent Sand Disposal

• Spent Sand Disposal
  • We then handle all of the disposal off site per CA regulations including taking samples of the spent sand for laboratory analysis and treatment if needed before disposal as non-RCRA or other waste designation .
• We have powerful vacuum suction equipment such as DitchWitchFX 60 for vacuuming and disposing the spent sand.

Step 3: High Pressure Hot Detergent Wash

We have top of the line Hotsybrand hot water / detergent / high pressure wash equipment to clean the surfaces. This gives us powerful hot water washes that combined w/ industrial-grade detergents from AkzoNobel clean up the surfaces to ASTM standards.

Contact Us for Mobile Sandblasting and Abrasive Blasting Services

Picon Sandblasting Services can help you with your on-site mobile sandblasting needs.

There are many factors to consider when choosing a steel  tank for your facility. You need to think about the volume of the tank, what exactly is going to be stored, and whether you can plan coatings or waterproofing to stave off tank leak repair needs. One factor that sometimes gets overlooked by those not in the know is how to waterproof tanks and prevent corrosion. Waterproofing a tank usually involves adding a protective coating to the inside of the tank. Since there isn’t one coating that will protect your tank from absolutely everything, you need to decide what kind of coating you will need. Read more »

Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Proves an Effective Concrete Strengthening Solution

What is FRP?

Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) systems have proved worthwhile in the strengthening of damaged concrete structures. They are also used for masonry structures that are scheduled for upgrading as well as for water tank repair. They were initially used in the automotive and civil industries to offer rigidity in a number of applications. FRPs are a blend of E-glass or carbon fibers and a polymer material. The reinforcement offers high-strength even though they are lightweight. Read more »