Lately, I received so many concerns about pressure rating of FRP tanks, some FRP tank models particularly Pentair have 100 psi operating pressure and other China brands have 150 psi operating pressure, someone commented that 100 psi tanks are not advisable since there is a tendency to explode during operation.
As I mentioned before, I am a Behavioral Science Major and part of my discipline is to gather details and information before establishing a conclusion on certain topics or issues.
I was able to talk to the Regional Sales Manager of Pentair when he visited our office and discussed to him the pressure rating issues. According to him, 100 psi operating pressure does not mean that if you operate beyond 100 psi, the FRP tank will explode, it was an operating condition used at the time the FRP tank was tested and as per their laboratory result, the bursting pressure of the said FRP tank was 3 times of the operating pressure, so the “explosion issue” of FRP tank being operated beyond 100 psi is not true.
It is just a safety factor consideration, so when I asked him if we can really operate beyond 100 psi, he just smiled at me and said, you are really a Behavioral Science guy and not an Engineer. It is a discipline in “engineering parlance” not to go beyond the safety factor marker.
Realistically speaking, when we talk of WRS operation, we just operate a maximum of less than 100 psi before the RO module so the “explosion issue” is really not a concern.
Just a sort of logical analogy, It is Good Engineering practice to consider the safety factor concept, however in commercial market particularly the WRS Industry, we always push the performance of the product to the maximum limit (single 4040 membrane RO unit at 3000 GPD production well in fact in other countries single 4040 membranes are just 1500 GPD rating) so the question is, are we observing the “SAFETY FACTOR”?
- Orly Shanghai
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