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Serving Chicago - Then and Now

The list reads like a Who’s Who of Chicago - The Monadnock Building, The Shedd Aquarium, The John Hancock, Midway Airport, One Magnificent Mile and from top hotels to companies like Caterpillar, Grainger, Nabisco and Allstate. The one thing they all have in common: Chicago Tank Lining.

The Chief Engineer recently had the opportunity to speak with Ken Brand from Chicago Tank Lining on some of the more memorable jobs they have been on. We also learned a little about where the company came from and where they see themselves headed in the future.

To talk about Chicago Tank Lining is, in many respects, to talk about the history of Chicago. But the beginning actually brings one to Bridgeport, Connecticut, where a thriving Oil Burner Service business began in the mid-1950s.

Around that time many of the homes and businesses used fuel oil to provide heat and hot water. Fuel oil was stored in small, 275-gallon tanks in their backyard, under the porch, or in a basement. Shell was one of the main suppliers of oil on the East Coast and they had recently introduced a detergent into the fuel.

“ The detergent was beautiful,” recalls Ray Brand, founder of Chicago Tank Lining. “The pumps were clean, the filters spotless. But then all the tanks started leaking - like an epidemic.” What no one had realized was that the detergent was cleaning all the sludge and residue from the tank bottoms and the trace amounts of water in the fuel was now corroding the clean steel.

The question then became, How do we prevent this from happening?

The answer was found at a trade show where the Brand brothers stumbled upon a relatively new technology for repairing leaking tanks - 100% solid epoxies.

These epoxies were not your run-of-the-mill coatings or other thin, solvent-based epoxies. They were very thick, difficult to work with and costly. But when applied properly, they were almost indestructible and virtually corrosion proof. The Brand brothers weren’t sure what to make of this new material or what it could do, but they knew they stumbled upon something great.

Applying this material to a 275, as the tanks were known, was fairly simple. Chicago Tank had a couple of small International Harvester Metro Vans like the one pictured below. “As I recall,” Ken said with a chuckle, “the photo pretty much looks like the same condition as our van was at the time.” A small tank was welded into the back of the Metro and when the serviceman arrived at the job, he would pump the fuel out of the tank and into the truck.

He would then disconnect the 275, flip it upside down and grind the bottom. He applied the red, gooey, taffy-like epoxy with gloved hands, embedded fiberglass as required, and set heat lamps over the coating. After lunch, they would flip the tank over, put the oil back in and go home.

Signing on as a franchisee, the Brand brothers began to coat the bottom of every 275 they could find. They lined leaking and non-leaking tanks as well, and provided a 20-year guarantee. With things working out so well, two of the Brand brothers decided to head west and give it a go in Chicago.

Ray and Al Brand went to work lining “275s” and providing their 20-year guarantee throughout Chicago. One of the first organizations they joined shortly after reaching Chicago was the Chief Engineers Association. Ray remembers attending meetings and making many good friends throughout the years. Ken told us that the last guarantee call came in about 15 years ago from an elderly woman on the West side. “I remember the call,” said Warren Brand, Director of Marketing and Sales. “I couldn’t believe it. She faxed over the guarantee letter and I think it was in the 19th year of the guarantee. So, of course, we honored the guarantee and went and made the repair. She gave us the guarantee letter as a keepsake.”

The market began to change as natural gas use became more prominent. Soon the way of the “275s” passed and Chicago Tank Lining got to work finding new applications for their coatings.

As we took our virtual walk down Michigan Avenue we asked what was the most challenging job that Chicago Tank had ever faced. Their answer was the Chicago Board of Trade.

The year was 1990 and the Chicago Board of Trade building had a problem. Three domestic water tanks in the 64-year-old building needed lining. The two on the 23rd floor were not a problem because they could be lined one at a time during normal working hours. But there was one on the 43rd floor that had to be lined over a weekend so as not to interfere with futures trading.

Chicago Tank met with the CBOT and drafted a plan to line the tank over Memorial Day weekend. It was vital that the work be completed in one weekend so as not to interfere with the market’s opening the following Tuesday. The 43rd floor tank supplied the water for the critical office space and various cooling systems. After thoughtful planning and organizing, the schedule was set. It was a risky project, but Chicago Tank Lining was prepared. In the event that something went not as planned, contingency plans were put in place.

Set-up began on Thursday. By Friday, as CBOT employees ended their day and headed off to enjoy a three-day weekend, Chicago Tank personnel began their three-day weekend. Work began by running over 1,000 feet of air hose from the diesel compressor on the ground level in, around and throughout the building to power the equipment on the 43rd floor and access the tank.

Work began by draining, cleaning and drying the tank. Abrasive blasting began around 9 p.m. Friday night. The tank was sprayed at 3 a.m. on Saturday morning, tested by Sunday morning and ready on Monday, one full day ahead of schedule. No contingency plans were needed - the job went as planned. To this day, the coating has required no maintenance whatsoever.

As we talked they recalled the Harris Bank Building. A cooling tower basin over 100 feet long had been leaking and Chicago Tank was asked to bid on the project. Unfortunately the job was awarded to another contractor.

“ However,” recalls Warren, “I remember getting a call about a year later that there was a problem with the new coating. I went down to inspect the basin and could take a piece of the coating and simply peel it off like a banana skin.” The entire coating required removal. “And, we had to do it in the winter time,” Warren told us. He went on to say that there were now holes in the basin and the coating was difficult to remove. The job was completed and much to their credit, there has not been a problem since.

So, we had heard about the most challenging job. The next question: Who holds the oldest tank lining that you have done? Warren answered, “One of our oldest tank linings that we know of is in a concrete tank at CBS. We lined it some time in 1980. Ken remembered that the tank was over a recording studio and they put a red light in the room. Whenever the red light turned on, we had to stop operations. “The coating has never required an ounce of maintenance and will outlast all of us,” Warren added.

“ People constantly underestimate what can be done with the new materials on the market today,” Warren said. Which is one of the problems Chicago Tank faces. “We’re running out of tanks,” Warren quips.

Most recently Warren received an unusual call from the Peninsula Hotel in New York. They had a very old steel pool that had been lined with some type of fiberglass material that had failed in various areas. “I’ve never seen a standard fiberglass system work well in a pool,” Warren told us.

The Peninsula was unable to find anyone who knew what to do with the pool and they had heard about Chicago Tank Lining after the company had completed work at the Peninsula here in Chicago. New York sent photos and dimensions and Warren wrote up a detailed specification of what he thought should be done. Branching out beyond tank linings, Warren wrote the specification using their proprietary new product called Pool Armor.

“ The next thing I knew, they wanted to know how fast I could fly out to review the pool.” Warren met with about a dozen people from architects to project managers, building owners and engineers and a local artist. The Peninsula had commissioned the artist to create a unique pattern in the pool. After explaining to the artist that normal paint could not be used because of the harsh environment in a chlorinated pool, Warren was able to figure out a way to accomplish the artist’s goals with different colors and grades of Pool Armor, but time was short.

“ The Peninsula was under the gun in terms of getting the work done. I put together a detailed specification and budget plan and got a call from the architect with the go-ahead,” Warren told us. Unfortunately, the artistic design the Peninsula wanted would have added additional days to the timeline so it had to be left out. The project was completed and the pool put back into service within two weeks.

One of the advantages of Pool Armor is that it can be repaired underwater. “It’s not easy,” Warren told us. “And it’s not the most beautiful repair, but it’s functional and will typically get us through until the next time we can get into the pool to conduct proper repairs.

Over the years, Chicago Tank Lining has gone from lining small, backyard tanks to lining underground gasoline tanks, hot and cold water tanks and everything in between. But their future, they believe, lies in servicing their existing customer base, finding new customers, and expanding into swimming pools. We found it hard to believe that during our trip down Michigan Avenue it was nearly impossible to pass a building, or certainly a block, that Chicago Tank Lining had not worked in.

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