Grounding of an underground spill containment tank

P

pete25

Member
A project I am working on has an completely underground 5000 gallon carbon steel with a Polyurethane tank coating providing corrosion protection and insulation. The question I have, does this tank need or required by any code to be grounded? The tank will have level sensors and an alarm panel that is mounted above grade near the tank. Please note that the coating is insulating the steel.
 
Isn't their a EGC going to the level sensors? Other than that being underground I don't know of a ground requirement. Does it have a fill or vent pipe you can ground to?
 
This tank is not required by the electrical code to be 'grounded' (connected to a grounding electrode). Because of the coating the tank is not required to be treated as a grounding electrode.

If a circuit is run to the tank, and if that circuit is likely to energize the tank in a fault condition, then electrical code would require that the tank be connected to the 'safety ground' run with the circuit.

Depending on what materials might be contained in the tank, other codes (eg fire safety codes for flammable liquids) might require grounding for static or lightning protection. A steel tank insulated from soil would form a capacitor that could build up a large static charge.

Jonathan
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top