Fuel Oil News

Fuel Oil News May 2016

The home heating oil industry has a long and proud history, and Fuel Oil News has been there supporting it since 1935. It is an industry that has faced many challenges during that time. In its 77th year, Fuel Oil News is doing more than just holding

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STEEL TANK INSTITUTE HITS 100 www.fueloilnews.com | FUEL OIL NEWS | MAY 2016 23 STI/SPFA IS A TRADE ASSOCIATION represent- ing fabricators of steel construction products and their suppliers. Member companies produce steel storage tanks, field-erected water tanks, pressure vessels and heat exchangers, and pipe and pipelines. Their custom- ers are from the petrochemical, power generation, food, pharmaceutical, fuels, wastewater and water transmission industries. FON recently interviewed Wayne Geyer, executive vice presi- dent at STI/SPFA, for a look at the steel tank industry going into 2016 and its 100th anniversary. The institute has put together several videos that are accessible at its website. These are certainly worth a visit for those interested in the history of the industry. FON: This year is the 100th anniversary of the institute. Tell us a little bit about the organization's history. GEYER: We formed in 1916 as a bunch of Midwest boil- ermakers. Back then, things were mostly riveted instead of welded, and the organization didn't get really going until the 1930s. By World War II everything was being welded. There are two companies that were original members and are still members, which I think is pretty incredible. One is Morrison Brothers. Another one is Chicago Boiler, now headquartered in Gurnee, Ill. There's not a lot in our history in the first 50 years until we started developing some standards. I think the first one was in 1956. It was the Midwest '56 Standard, where the underground tank fabricators and the oil companies agreed on where the fittings and the flanges needed to be on an underground tank, so they were standardized. You know, today there are no two tanks that are the same. Through the years we've gotten bigger. Our biggest claim to fame was when we were asked by the oil companies to come up with underground tank technology that was resis- tant to external corrosion from soil. That started in late 1969. We worked with US Steel and one of our members in Indianapolis, Kennedy Tank—worked hard on that. The oil companies wanted a national warranty. They wanted to make sure there was a quality program, so that got our licensing technology program started. Really, I think that's what put us on the map. FON: That ties into today's mission. GEYER: It seems to have set our direction. We license the fabricators to build technology and our label gets put on their tanks. We have inspectors that go randomly into their shops to inspect them, maybe four times a year. Our inspectors look not only at the tanks they build to our specifications, but they also look at tanks they build to Underwriters Lab standards that are not necessarily built to STI standards. Part of it, too, is a third-party insurance company that provides environmental ers are from the petrochemical, power BY KEITH REID

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