MANUAL TANK GAUGING: only for smaller tanks.
Tanks holding 1000 g or less can use this method alone. Tanks from
1001 - 2000 g can only use this method in conjunction with tank
tightness testing. Not for use with tanks larger than 2000 g.
Requires 4 liquid level measurements per week. The first 2 are made at the beginning of the week, the last 2 after at least 36 hours during which product has been neither removed nor added to the tank. The average of the 2 consecutive end measurements are subtracted from the average of the 2 beginning measurements to calculate the change in stored product volume.
Weekly calculated change in tank volume is compared to the standards in the following table. If the calculated change exceeds the weekly standard, the storage system may be leaking. Monthly averages of the weekly tests must also be compared to monthly standards.
CAPACITY (gallons) | WEEKLY STANDARD (1 test, gallons) |
MONTHLY STANDARD (4 test average) |
MIN. TIME OF TEST (hours) |
---|---|---|---|
up to 550 | 10 | 5 | 36 |
when largest tank is 64" X 73" | |||
551 - 1000 | 9 | 4 | 44 |
if tank is 48" X 128" | |||
1000 | 12 | 6 | 58 |
if combined with tank tightness testing | |||
1001 - 2000 | 26 | 13 | 36 |
REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS
Manual tank gauging is inexpensive and can be performed by yourself. For tanks under 1001 gallons the only cost is the gauging stick, and perhaps some product-finding paste. The total cost is less than $200.
For tanks between 1001 and 2000 gallons there is the additional cost of the tank tightness testing. These test costs are highly variable, ranging from $250 to over $1000 for each test.
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