PBST manway not sealing

[Mike Elliott]

HELP!

We have a new 60-bbl PBST unitank, and try as I might, I can't get the door gasket to seal. I've tried both orientations of the door, gasket facing in and out, adjusting the posistion of the door and the closure arms, but still nothing.

Anybody have any tips? In ten years of brewing I've never had such a stubborn manway. At the end of my ideas.

Cheers!

[jebzter]

You have the ridge on the seal facing the inner face of the opening? Only thing that could be going wrong is it is not tightened enough or the seal face is damaged. I have been to the factory and they pressure test each vessel for 24 hours before they are released, so it should seal. I have not had any problems with my tanks, I have 10 of them ranging from 10 to 20bbl in size. Pictures also help, we can see if something looks off.

[TGTimm]

We've had one ferm with a bad manway over the years. It can happen--but let's hope it didn't in your case!

With the gasket off the door, carefully position the door and lightly close it. Carefully inspect the seating area to see if it's in contact with the door all the way around--a little bit out of contact is ok (hence the thick gasket), but any significant gap means the frame of the manway or the door is warped.

If this is the case, contact the maker--the company that made our defective (brand new purchase) one sent a crew out who cut out the bad door and welded the new one in--I can't even tell which ferm it was now.

Otherwise, it's a bad gasket or operator error.

[Sungood-Machinery]

HELP!

We have a new 60-bbl PBST unitank, and try as I might, I can't get the door gasket to seal. I've tried both orientations of the door, gasket facing in and out, adjusting the posistion of the door and the closure arms, but still nothing.

Anybody have any tips? In ten years of brewing I've never had such a stubborn manway. At the end of my ideas.

Cheers!

Hey,Mike

If you don't mind,you can take some photoes of the Manway for me,Maybe I can find the reasons for you.

[fmeric]

Have you tried swapping the gasket with a known good one? We had a 30 bbl that was difficult to get to seal with its original [silicone] gasket. Did seem to have more luck with the manway oriented in one particular position (we labeled one side 'top.') We eventually replaced the gasket with an EPDM version from brewerygaskets.com, and it has not leaked since.

[RobW]

Same problem, same tanks

I have 4 PBST tanks with the same problem - My solution, remove the door arm... It was binding when fully closed. Try it, see if you have the same results.

R

[Todd Hicks]

I have found with several PBST tanks, you have to play musical doors until you swap them around to find the ones that perfectly match up to the well and seal.

[FrankM]

Manway Sealing

Hi Mike:

Sorry on the manway sealing problem, please give me a call to resolve the problem.

It could be the horizontal bar bent arm, when the bent wasn't done correctly and just slightly, the manway door may not seal properly.

Sometimes, it could be the silicone gasket of being too soft, a harder EPDM gasket can solve the problem.

Our engineers are aware of the issues, and continuing to improve our products. Please contact me direct with email or phone.