Drip/Drain Tray for Sweating Brite Tanks?

[APCider]

Hi,

We are making cider in a facility that is a bit less than ideal, drainage wise.

There are floor drains, but no real slope in the floor towards the drains, and the drains are located on major forklift thoroughfares in the production facility that we share (winery), so locating tanks right over the drains is impossible.

We are using jacketed, uninsulated, rented grundy tanks as brite tanks for budget reasons, generating large amounts of condensate which quickly turns to large pools of water traveling away from the drains due to poor floor topography.

Curious if something like the drain tray in the attached image exists at a larger scale (50"x50") whereby we could set the feet of our tanks into the trays and drain the water away through the outlet via hose to the the nearby drain. Obviously this would require regular cleaning, but think it would be a step up from our current situation of water going all over the floor.

Wanted to see if this group had any other suggestions beyond "get insulated tanks" which is something we are currently working towards at the speed of cashflow.

https://www.grainger.com/product/DIV...ytics=altItems

[rdcpro]

Do the feet on your grundy's have levelers?

If so, then get a local sheet metal shop to bend up a set of drip pans the exact size you need. I've had them make up all sorts of large non standard things like a chiller or air compressor doghouse. Or, if those drip pans are big enough, then use them.

Use spacers on the floor, of the appropriate thickness so that the pan drains the way you want. In other words, if you want it to drain to the front, put thicker spacers on the floor in back, and thinner ones in front.

Put the pan on the feet, with thru-holes as necessary. Then bolt your grundy down on top of that, sealing around the leveler foot if necessary with vulkem or the like.

If you don't have levelers, you may want to use two shims, one on each side of the pan. IOW, in the back, a thick one on the bottom, and a thin one on top. In the front, reverse them with thin on the bottom and thick on top. The stacked height is the same front and back that way, but the pan will tilt one way. Sometimes you can find ready-made galvanized steel spacers at commercial building supply stores that do structural steel. You can accomplish the same thing with three of them for each foot. Two on the bottom and one on the top, or vice versa.

Keeping some air space underneath will let you keep it cleaner, though mold is going to be a problem no matter what. But at least you can clean under it.

I'd put a small bulkhead drain on the low end, maybe with a hose so you can occasionally drain it out. Toss the hose over the lip into the pan, so it doesn't leak when you aren't draining.

Regards,
Mike Sharp

[APCider]

Drip/Drain Tray for Sweating Tanks?

Thanks for the details - this makes sense to me. Think sheetmetal fab is probably the way to go - rising the whole thing up on spacers makes sense for cleaning.

no levelers on the feet unfortunately. I think these are commonly referred to as Eurotanks - they are new construction but marketed as modern grundy's.

They look like this: http://www.pcmcapital.net/photo-gallery-2/

Going to go hit up my local sheet metal shop and take it from there - thanks again for the input.

AC

Do the feet on your grundy's have levelers?

If so, then get a local sheet metal shop to bend up a set of drip pans the exact size you need. I've had them make up all sorts of large non standard things like a chiller or air compressor doghouse. Or, if those drip pans are big enough, then use them.

Use spacers on the floor, of the appropriate thickness so that the pan drains the way you want. In other words, if you want it to drain to the front, put thicker spacers on the floor in back, and thinner ones in front.

Put the pan on the feet, with thru-holes as necessary. Then bolt your grundy down on top of that, sealing around the leveler foot if necessary with vulkem or the like.

If you don't have levelers, you may want to use two shims, one on each side of the pan. IOW, in the back, a thick one on the bottom, and a thin one on top. In the front, reverse them with thin on the bottom and thick on top. The stacked height is the same front and back that way, but the pan will tilt one way. Sometimes you can find ready-made galvanized steel spacers at commercial building supply stores that do structural steel. You can accomplish the same thing with three of them for each foot. Two on the bottom and one on the top, or vice versa.

Keeping some air space underneath will let you keep it cleaner, though mold is going to be a problem no matter what. But at least you can clean under it.

I'd put a small bulkhead drain on the low end, maybe with a hose so you can occasionally drain it out. Toss the hose over the lip into the pan, so it doesn't leak when you aren't draining.

Regards,
Mike Sharp

[rdcpro]

Oh, if you're using those, maybe you can get a pre-made spill containment pallet. They're designed so that a drum or tote can be set on them, and any spillage will be contained. They're kind of pricey (well, at least the only time I ever bought them), but if you move your tanks around with a forklift, this is probably easier to do than cobbling together a DIY drip tray. For example: https://www.newpig.com/spill-contain.../5044?show=All

Other than the condensation, how do you like using that type of tank?

Regards,
Mike Sharp

[MiddleBrewer]

Here is an updated version of that photo gallery:

http://www.pcmtanks.com/photo-gallery-2/

Drip/Drain Tray for Sweating Tanks?

Thanks for the details - this makes sense to me. Think sheetmetal fab is probably the way to go - rising the whole thing up on spacers makes sense for cleaning.

no levelers on the feet unfortunately. I think these are commonly referred to as Eurotanks - they are new construction but marketed as modern grundy's.

They look like this: http://www.pcmcapital.net/photo-gallery-2/

Going to go hit up my local sheet metal shop and take it from there - thanks again for the input.

AC