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CALICORP SCB SERIES

STEEL BARRIER DAM SYSTEM

Version 3

April 12, 2006

 

If surplus plant is still in place, arrange for its removal prior
to installing the spill containment system.

Holes and other surface defects should be filled before applying the
coatings.

Is there any damage from previous spills? Spilled electrolyte that
was not treated properly may have resulted in deterioration of floor
surfaces. Tiles may be loose. Concrete may be "chalky" and
suffer loss of strength. Repairs should be made before installing the
spill containment system.

Clean-up and neutralization of previous spills should be completed
prior to applying the floor coatings. Floors should be cleaned with
a good citrus-based detergent. Old wax must be removed.

Floor surface must be adequately treated to insure adhesion. If you
are going to coat floor areas that will be subject to foot and equipment
traffic, professional application is strongly recommended.  Application
of coating material by inexperienced or non-professional applicators
may void manufacturers warranty.

Concrete surfaces that will be coated should be "roughed up."
Concrete that has been mechanically abraded may be subject to outgassing,
which can cause pinhole bubbles in the undercoat during cure time. The
CAL551-101 primer will seal concrete and prevent outgassing.

The costs of cleaning and pre-conditioning should be estimated and
including in the total cost of your project.

Installation Considerations

Fiberglass battery racks with zero floor-clearance pose special problems.
These racks, or stands completely cover a major part of the floor area
immediately under the batteries, and interfere with coating the floor
to make it liquid-tight. All holes and seams up to 4-inches from the
floor must be plugged and sealed. Any entry point for falling electrolyte
must be sealed to prevent electrolyte from getting to untreated floor
surfaces. Caulking and special high-elongation coatings are available
from your Calicorp representative.

A wall can be used as part of the spill containment barrier. Barrier
parts can be attached to the wall and the wall masked and coated, just
as if it was a barrier part. This allows spill containment placed around
a battery rack that butts up against a wall or partition.

If there are any walls or protrusions into proposed spill barrier
areas, design the barrier to compensate for the condition.  Complete
seismic bracing, if required, prior to installing the spill containment
system.

If the building is located in a seismic-prone area, you may wish to
coat the entire battery area floor. This will ensure that a seismic-generated
spill will not be released to the environment.

Barriers must have at least 1-inch clearance from the battery rack
in all directions in order to comply with UFCÔ Article 64.  When
measuring, remember to consider any overhanging parts of the battery
rack.

Determine if any cable ducts are in the floor area to be covered.
Extra materials will be required to build barriers around these, if
access will be required in the future. If access is not planned, they
can be covered with the coating materials. An extra-flexible undercoat/topcoat
combination is available if required. Contact your Calicorp Representative
for more information.

Expansion joints must be treated if encountered in the spill containment
area if complete liquid-tight integrity is to be attained. Again, as
mentioned above, an elastomeric basecoat with higher elongation is available,
that will allow sealing of All battery room floor drains should be sealed
to prevent any possible electrolyte leaks from reaching the sewer system.

Refer any open drains to Customer Building Engineer. Temporary plugs
are available that allow opening to drain non-hazardous materials.

MEASUREMENTS

Measuring for Spill Containment Barriers

Measure each battery rack. Enter the length and width (in inches)
on the Worksheet. Use grid paper to draw the floorplan showing the layout
of the battery racks. Determine the size of the Spill Containment Barrier
that best suits each Battery Rack. Allow for at least 1" clearance
around each rack on all sides. This is the basic requirement of the
UFCÔ .  The barrier base is 1.25", so if you add 3" to
rack length and width measurements you will have enough room for the
barrier base plus a 0.25" extra clearance. Also, the barrier must
be able to contain all the electrolyte from the largest battery in the
string.

The dimensions of the barrier should take into consideration the type
of rack or stand to be surrounded. For standard racks, that have floor
clearance, the 1" extension should provide sufficient capacity.
For round cells in stands with zero floor clearance, extra considerations
should be made. A typical battery jar may contain 35 quarts of electrolyte,
some as high as 70 quarts. A quart of electrolyte occupies 57.75 cubic
inches of space. Therefore, 35 quarts would require 2022 cubic inches
of barrier capacity. With a 4" barrier, this works out to 506 square
inches of floor space. A six module battery stand, with zero floor clearance,
measures 30"x 90," and will occupy 2700 square inches of floor
space inside the spill barrier. To contain a spill from one cell, means
the 505 square inches of required capacity is to be added to the space
occupied by the battery stand, or 3205 square inches. A 35" x 94"
x 4" barrier would meet all requirements. This is explained by
the following formula:

(BC x 57.75)/4 + BSA = Spill Barrier Area (for
zero floor clearance stands).

Where:

BC = Capacity of largest battery, in quarts.

BSA = Total area occupied by battery stand, in square inches.

Consideration can be given to extend the barriers out more that the
required one inch in high seismic threat areas. Make sure the aisles
will still be wide enough for battery maintenance equipment, e.g. battery
hoists.

Spill barrier kits are made up of standard parts (Corner Brackets,
Extension Brackets, 12", 24", 30", 36", 48"
and 60" lengths). All kit lengths and widths are made up from these
parts.  Longer lengths are avoided for battery plant safety. 
Our pricing plan is based on these standard sizes, however, the kits
will be trimmed to your exact size requirements at the factory before
shipping.

Barrier kits are provided with all hardware and adhesive required
for assembly. Bolts and nuts are stainless steel. The sections are pre-coated
with an acid-proof epoxy coating.  When measuring, remember to
allow for any earthquake bracing, pillars, columns or other obstructions
that can change the shape of the required barrier from a simple rectangle.

Measuring for Surface coatings

The square footage within the barriers for each rack should be on
the last line of the first section of the Job Estimate Work Sheet. If
you do not intend to coat the entire battery room floor, these figures
give you what you need to determine the amount of surface coating materials
needed.

You can make the entire battery room floor a spill containment area.
The entire floor can be coated, including up to 4" on the surrounding
walls. This would reduce the possibility of a release of hazardous materials
(electrolyte) to the environment during an earthquake, fire or battery
room explosion. If you chose to do this, it is recommended that a professional
applicator be used to apply the surface coatings. Proper floor preparation
and coating application are critical in foot and equipment traffic areas.

Floorcoat (CAL551-220). Plan on a thickness of about 16 to 20 mils.
Thickness should be determined by floor condition. Coverage per Gallon
is about 147 sq. ft. at 10 mil thickness. At 20 mil thickness coverage
will be about 73 square feet. The mixture out of the can will fill small
surface cracks. If floor condition warrants, Thixatropic fibers can
be added to allow the undercoat to fill surface cracks (up to 5/16").

Extra thick coats can be used to cover surface blemishes and defects.
Flow coats up to 125 mils (1/8") have been used. This undercoat
is self-leveling. Estimate your quantity, based on how thick this coat
has to be. For example, at 125 mils, coverage is reduced to about 12
square feet!

If the barrier butts up against a vertical wall, the wall can become
part of the barrier. Approximately 20 mil Coatings on vertical wall
surfaces will be sufficient. You will have to apply several thin coats
to build up to