Im want to build an unloading area for unloading a tank car of linseed oil that is fed into a factory's outside storage tank.The piping has to cross above the lead track to get to the tank.Its a vertical tank would the piping go to the top of the tank to fill the tank or would it go to the bottom? Any pictures would help.
Thank you
Hi,
There may be special circumstances in some cases but for the most part the fill line is run to the top of the tank in order to reduce the chances of the tank emptying if there were a rupture in a pipe or fitting.
Here is a photo of the tank farm at a GE plant where I worked for a while:
B_W_Spring17f_edited-1 by Edmund, on Flickr
As you can see, the piping passes across the track on the elevated structure, which also serves as a manway. Almost all the loads were pumped out of the tank cars and up into the tops of the tanks. Some of the chemicals were dumped into below-grade "blowcases" which were then pressurized with air and blown into the storage tank.
Here is another view taken from the other side of the same tanks. Both of these photos are from the early 1930s.
Tank_farm by Edmund, on Flickr
You can see in the second view that there are no pipes, fittings or outlets at the bottom ends of the tanks. Much of the piping is inside the rectangular box along the top which has steam trace lines inside to keep liquids from freezing, hopefully.
Here is a view taken from nearly the exact vantage point as the top photo — eighty-five years later:
IMG_5257_edited-1 by Edmund, on Flickr
Hope that helps,
Good Luck, Ed
I've designed a number of chemical storage tanks. The fill line is almost always on the top of the tank. Inside the tank there is usually a "downcomer" pipe that extends from the top of the tank to below the normal low level to prevent splashing. You wouldn't see that, so just have the fill line feed to the top of the tank.
Water tanks are treated differently though. Since they typically fill and draw from the same line, the fill connection is at the bottom.
Ray
Colorado Ray Inside the tank there is usually a "downcomer" pipe that extends from the top of the tank to below the normal low level to prevent splashing.
I managed to get an X-Ray view of the very same tanks shown in my 1932 photo:
IMG_1478_edited-1 by Edmund, on Flickr
...and a closer look:
IMG_1479_edited-1 by Edmund, on Flickr
Some tanks had heating coils in them, the acid and caustic tanks were rubber-lined. Some of the tanks were sprayed with expanding polyurethane foam insulation, too.
Hope that helps, Ed