Busy Tank Wizards Ensure No Disruption During Storm Season
Between March and May each year, our phone at Tank Wizards is constantly ringing. The calls come into our office just ahead of hurricane season, as staff from facilities like hospitals, nursing homes, outpatient surgery centers, school hurricane shelters, rehabilitation centers, wastewater treatment plants and firehouses realize it is time to check the fuel tanks tasked with providing power should a storm knock out electricity.
This time of year is always crazy busy for our Tank Wizards staff. I understand the “out-of-sight, out-of-mind” concept, but I always encourage customers to give themselves plenty of time and not wait until the last minute. They could be waiting a long time since only a few companies like us specialize in the cleaning and maintenance of these fuel tanks.
Health care facilities are required by law to engage in a complete annual checkup of fuel tanks that provide power to generators. In Florida, the American Health Care Association is the enforcement agency, which bases its regulations on recommendations provided by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). NFPA recommends that fuel tanks be tested annually, with the thought that a generator that cannot depend on a reliable fuel supply when needed is worthless.
Generators assure that even when power fails, a life-saving surgery can still continue and that intubators and defibrillators can help keep patients alive. It is not only desirable, but required, per government regulations that power must return within 10 seconds should electricity fail. For first responders, a non-working generator means that fire trucks and ambulances have no access to their own fuel supply. It’s all about saving lives.
A faulty tank is serious, and first responders can be critically impacted by bad fuel. For example, a local fire department was en route to a call when the injectors failed due to bad fuel.
I tell my customers that not keeping up with your fuel tank and generator is like buying life insurance but not paying the premiums.
Healthcare and first responders are not the only impacted industries. Wastewater treatment plants and lift stations also are susceptible, as are the homeowners who rely on them. If you don’t have backup power, sewage just sits. It affects anyone who wants to flush a toilet during a power outage. Consumers don’t realize until their toilets no longer flush how important it is for these backups to work when they are needed.
Tank cleaning is not just about filtering the fuel, because the tanks can amass a huge amount of sediment that can be detrimental to smooth operation. To save time, some companies in the tank-cleaning industry just filter the fuel and call it a day. Our staff at Tank Wizards filters the fuel, but we also get into all the nooks and crannies looking for gunk until we can’t find any.
It can be time-consuming depending on the condition of the tank. In some cases, we can upkeep two 10,000-gallon tanks in a day, but in other situations, a 2,000-gallon tank can kick our butts for two days. It is best not to take a chance and call us sooner rather than later.
Learn More
Visit tankwizards.com or call 321-285-8878.
Facebook: /tankwizards
LinkedIn: /tankwizards
2023 Hurricane Name List
- Arlene
- Bret
- Cindy
- Don
- Emily
- Franklin
- Gert
- Harold
- Idalia
- Jose
- Katia
- Lee
- Margot
- Nigel
- Ophelia
- Philippe
- Rina
- Sean
- Tammy
- Vince
- Whitney
Meet Our Thought Leader
Wendall Stroderd is the founder and president of Tank Wizards Inc., founded in 2012. Tank Wizards is a Florida-based company that started in fuel tank cleaning, fuel filtration and fuel maintenance and has since grown into being a full-service petroleum solutions contractor.
Wendall works closely with regulatory agencies, such as the EPA, to not only understand and implement the most stringent interpretations of today’s codes and standards but to be a hands-on asset and source of information for refining and improving practices and policies for the future.
Though Tank Wizards serves the private and government sectors in all areas of bulk fuel storage needs, the vast majority of the work performed by Tank Wizards is directly connected to Fuel Quality Assurance in the critical needs applications of Emergency Standby Power Systems. This specialization has led to the development of testing and tank cleaning procedures not found elsewhere.
Map It
