Built for the Field: Choosing Parts That Simplify Testing and Repairs
By Steve Stewart
Equipment longevity is a major driver of total cost of ownership (TCO) –and most fuel retailers know it. You want your fueling system equipment to operate without failure for as long as possible. The longer it successfully operates, the more value you get out of it.
However, many station operators underestimate the impact that service efficiency has on TCO. While testing and routine maintenance are unavoidable, the way fueling system equipment is engineered directly influences how quickly inspections, servicing and repairs can be completed. The long-term consequences caused by poorly performing equipment can affect brand loyalty and accelerate customer dissatisfaction.
As such, fuel retailers should be sure to ask their equipment supplier these two questions when choosing new fueling system components:
- How does the equipment simplify testing, maintenance and repairs?
- What design features simplify installation or eliminate the need for additional components?
Let’s dive into the value that the answers to those two questions can provide fuel marketers.
Underground doesn’t have to mean inaccessible
Underground part accessibility –meaning how easy or difficult it is to reach a part buried underground –for testing, maintenance, repairs and upgrades significantly impacts TCO and downtime.
For example, overfill prevention valve testing frequently takes longer than necessary due to a lack of service-focused features on the overfill valve.
There are two basic ways to test overfill prevention valves: the hard way and the easy way.
Basic overfill prevention valves that lack thoughtful engineering require the inspector or technician to remove the tank-top hardware, break vapor-tight seals and remove the overfill valve from the tank to test it (and then reconfigure the system after testing is complete).
Advanced overfill prevention valves engineered to simplify testing enable the overfill valve to be tested without an operator having to remove it from the tank. This capability significantly reduces the time needed to validate the valve’s functionality. What may take an hour for a basic overfill valve can be reduced to just a couple of minutes for a valve that does not need to be pulled out of the tank and reinstalled.
At minimum, the functionality of overfill prevention valves on drop tubes needs to be tested at start-up to confirm they pass code requirements. However, fuel retailers with strong preventative maintenance programs often go beyond that, voluntarily testing equipment –either annually or as part of a predetermined maintenance schedule.
Consider this: Testing valves within situ service capabilities for three tanks could only take 15 minutes TOTAL, compared to three hours to test the three valves that need to be removed. The time savings produced by the “service in place” valve reduce forecourt downtime and hourly charges for the testing services. Multiply those savings over the lifetime of the equipment, and the cumulative reduction in technician hours, system downtime and maintenance overhead significantly optimizes TCO.
When maintenance means jackhammers, everyone pays
A few words that send a chill down the spine of every seasoned fuel retailer? “Break concrete, dig, excavate, remediate.”
That’s because any instance where concrete needs to be demolished and replaced to repair or replace an underground part exponentially inflates costs, prolongs downtime and significantly disrupts fueling on the forecourt.
The time and financial costs to break concrete are considerable:
- Lost fuel and c-store sales.
In most “break concrete” scenarios, the forecourt will need to be closed for weeks — maybe months — for safety reasons until the equipment is restored, it passes testing, and the forecourt is rebuilt to local codes and regulatory standards. If a severe environmental incident occurs, the impact to the station’s reputation may be severe enough to permanently damage the company brand, your standing within the community, and diminish customer loyalty.
- Labour and materials.
Concrete removal and contaminated soil remediation are expensive. You may need to line up services from two crews — a concrete removal company AND a petroleum contractor — to complete the repair. You will also need to pay material costs and hazardous waste disposal fees.
- Permits, applications and engineering design fees.
The bigger the job, the longer the process will take, and the higher these soft costs will be.
Product supply piping is a prime example of how vetting the serviceability advantages can pay off.
First, the choice of piping material significantly impacts the long-term maintenance profile of this critical fueling system component. Compared to joint-free, corrosion-resistant flexible piping, systems constructed of rigid and semi-rigid piping contain buried fittings and joints that increase the likelihood of a leak over the life of the system.
Secondly, to repair or replace rigid piping, the concrete must be broken, the backfill excavated and contaminated materials hauled away. Unfortunately, when the underground equipment is exposed, additional problems in the system often reveal themselves, increasing the scope, timeline and costs of the repair job.
Fueling equipment manufacturers dialed into these common repair and serviceability challenges are engineering their products to make capturing leaks, servicing and testing underground parts faster and easier.
For example, fully integrated, double-wall flexible piping systems contained in an access pipe with flexible entry points provide continuous access to the piping without the disruption and high costs of breaking concrete. Spill buckets can offer similar advantages. The ability to replace a single-wall cartridge or upgrade to a double-wall configuration in a spill container without having to dismantle the concrete collar improves efficiency and yields cost savings.
Cutting complexity pays off
Equipment engineered to be quickly and easily installed also saves time and helps lower labor costs. Rigid piping, for example, requires precision alignment and fittings. Subsequently, materials and labour costs at the time of installation are generally higher for rigid pipe than piping made of flexible materials.
Plug-and-play components significantly simplify installation. For example, advanced composite fabrication processes enable manufacturers to produce universal dispenser sumps that are compatible with all dispenser models and facilitate easy nesting, stacking and unstacking. Sumps that arrive on-site pre-plumbed with dispenser tops, entry fittings, stabilizer bars, emergency shear valves and connections not only result in substantially quicker installations, but they reduce the chance for in-field assembly errors.
Seeking out fueling system equipment that eliminates the need for specialized ancillary components, such as specialized manholes to access underground equipment for future testing, reduces material costs and eliminates additional system parts that will need to be maintained over the lifetime of the entire fueling system. Even small parts can make a big impact. Advancements in swivel and breakaway engineering have eliminated the need to install a whip hose and reduced the number of potential leak points.
Innovation drives lower TCO
Even the most robustly engineered fueling system equipment needs to have wear parts serviced occasionally. Fortunately, fueling system equipment manufacturers that design equipment to be serviced in place and to reduce unnecessary complexity across the forecourt engineer long-term value into their products. When purchasing new fueling system parts, ask your distributors and equipment suppliers to explain the part’s installation, testing and maintenance advantages. Doing so will result in faster service calls, fewer shutdowns and greater reliability when it matters most.
Steve Stewart is the senior Canadian & Caribbean sales manager for OPW Retail Fueling, based in Smithfield, NC, USA. He can be reached at steve.stewart@opwglobal.com. OPW Retail Fueling is fueled by excellence as it develops fueling solutions and innovations worldwide. OPW delivers product excellence and the most comprehensive line of fueling equipment and services to retail and commercial fueling operations around the globe. For more information on OPW, go to opwglobal.com.
