|
Double walled safety tanks
New possibilities for renovation
The shift in demand from heating oil to natural gas is slowing. That has initially to do with the lower number of new houses being built – gas is normally the preferred fuel for new houses – and now this sector is starting to lose ground. The second deciding factor is the cost: according to the IWO (the German institute for economic oil heating), the average price of gas over the last year was 25 % higher than that of oil. The third reason is that heating oil with low sulphur content and condensing technology are able to free the oil boilers of their image of being polluters.
Faced with this higher acceptance, the tank manufacturers must also react and rid the tanks of their specific disadvantages: they emit odours and take up a lot of space. Two developments made it possible to move the battery tanks made of plastic a little nearer to the living area. The two key words are double walled ”Tank in Tank” systems, which make a separate overspill tray unnecessary, as well as an odour barrier. The second point allows the storage tank from Schütz to be situated in the hobby room or places, which directly border the living quarters of semi-detached or detached houses. The Westerwälder use Fluorine gas, whose molecules press against the inner and outer walls of the vacuum chamber thus closing the pores and lowering the diffusion rate.
To put this into figures: an untreated HDPE lost 4.3 % of its contents over a period of 250 days at 40 °C. On the other hand, the SMP (Surface Modified Plastics) container lost a mere 0.05 % under the same conditions. That means at normal room temperature of about 20 – 22 °C this value is reduced to practically odour free. Many accessories were put through this procedure as well; the protective barrier remains stable throughout the tank’s lifetime. The relative effectiveness of the Schütz-SMP process is continuously tested by the Fraunhofer Institut according to the statutes of the QgH, quality control association for barrier proofed heating oil tanks.
Schütz has expanded its range of double walled and barrier proofed battery tanks with solutions for the smallest of rooms and narrow corridors, in other words for old buildings. The 66 cm width (depth 142 cm, height 167 cm) of the first variation of the 1000 litre type makes it possible for it to fit through every door and corridor. The second with a base of 82 x 84 and 198 cm in height is especially for rooms with limited floor space.
Schütz has reacted to the new statute from the DIBT (The German Institute for Construction) regarding tank systems made of plastic. The minimum distance between wall and tank is now only 5 cm on three sides and 40 cm on the long sides for a single row of up to 5 tanks. This distance of 40 cm has also recently been set as the minimum distance from the source of heat – previously 1 metre –, when the surface temperature does not exceed 40 °C. This is the case with nearly all modern heating systems. The boilermaker must certify the 40 °C maximum temperature.
|
