ddmckee54..
I need to know how much solids are deposited in a tank for cleaning, my manways are 30'' give or take from the floor, if i have a 6' hockypuck of solids (Cat, Minerals, trash) i need to know how much i need to remove or salvage and how do i get access into the tank, which if it is higher than the manway we have to go to a different rout to attack the problem.
We too use the psychical plumb-bob gage but they are not accurate, it only gives you a height where the plum-bob lands, crude oil and oil distillates dont settle its solids uniformly they have peak and troughs. Its not an option to install an electrical sensor on top of a crude oil tank even if its electrically safe. We have a $40,000 FLUKE IR but its 6 years old and technology has certainly passed us by with the readings we get and the quality of the report on the screen display.
Anthony.