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Hauling UAN (Urea Ammonium Nitrate) pays well, but for a steel tanker, it’s a slow death if you don’t keep an eye on it. The other day, a 3-compartment Exo steel tanker rolled into the Metalcon facility. The work order sounded standard: “check the discharge, there’s a leak somewhere.” In reality, we had to save the tanker from a massive failure on the road.
What the inspection revealed:
Anyone working in the ag sector knows what UAN does to standard steel. A look at the lower piping showed a textbook case — severe through-corrosion.
What went under the knife:
- Main 3-inch discharge pipe. The manifold connecting the discharge from all three compartments had rotted down to the thickness of foil, developed pinholes, and was basically held together by paint and rust.
- Valves (3 units). One for each compartment. Seized completely. The salt solution had eaten the valve seats, so they physically couldn’t hold liquid anymore.
Sending a tanker like this out for chemical transport is a ticking time bomb. If a pipe bursts in the field or UAN spills at a weigh station, the environmental fines will hit you hard.
How we fixed it: cutting to the core
Slapping patches on rotten metal is a joke. There’s nothing to weld to, and the UAN will eat a new hole right next to it in a week. As a rule, we remove the rot entirely.
- Teardown: Cut off the old pipe completely, dropped the dead flanges and valves from all three compartments.
- New manifold assembly: Built a brand-new piping system from scratch using thick-walled structural steel.
Welding:All joints, tank outlets, and flanges were MIG welded with deep root penetration. UAN will find any pore or micro-crack instantly, so we keep strict control over the weld quality.
Assembly: Installed three new butterfly valves on the flanges. Now you don’t need a “cheater bar” to open them.
Pressure testing: Pressurized each pipe individually. Not a single sweat, not a single drop — everything is rock solid.
The season won’t wait
Aggressive chemicals don’t forgive cut corners. Don’t wait until something falls off right during unloading. Bring your equipment to our facility — we’ll do a proper piping inspection, high-quality pipeline welding, and valve replacements before it turns into a disaster. We truly do it right; the only limit is your budget.