These Access Points Are Critical for Data Center Fuel Systems and All AST and UST Equipment
A tank manway is a bolted access port that allows personnel and equipment to enter a fuel storage tank for inspection, equipment installation, cleaning, and other operations.
As you explore components that are critical to your fuel systems’ effective operation, compliance, and performance, including manways, it is important to understand their capabilities and specifications. This will help you make the choice that ensures your tanks are prepared to deliver everyday power for today’s critical fuel-powered industries.
What Capabilities Do Manways Offer?
A manway meets three main service functions for the modern tank. Knowing exactly what requirements you need to meet informs the kind of manway, gaskets, covers, and other components you should order from your chosen equipment manufacturer.
Inspection: Specific manways are built for observation and inspection to monitor tank condition, based on compliance and safety standards.
Equipment installation and service: Fuel storage tanks include components that must be installed to ensure tank processes operate as intended.
Cleaning and polishing: Particulates and water can enter a fuel tank over time. To ensure high-quality fuel, a manway is used as an access point for filtration equipment.
Why Products Like Stainless-Steel Manways Matter for Data Center Backup Power
A single modern data center used for AI functionality can consume as much power as tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of residential homes.
Data centers demand uninterrupted power to ensure operations continue without degradation, so data can be stored, utilized, and managed efficiently. In addition to processing, data centers also require powerful cooling systems to protect equipment from heat damage.
To ensure seamless day-to-day operations, backup power is an important redundancy to ensure that processes go uninterrupted. Power loss means facility downtime and, by extension, revenue loss.
Therefore, the equipment specified for backup-power diesel fuel tanks must be built by a superior manufacturer that innovates and builds specifically to mitigate risk.
Other Critical Industries That Require Manways
When a main power source fails, other industries besides data centers depend on reliable backup power. Diesel-fueled generator sets are the proven answer. The storage tanks that feed them rely on properly specified manways, among other components.
Beyond data center backup power and data center on-site power, manways play a mission-critical role across a range of fuel-powered applications, including:
- Retirement communities.
- Facilities with microgrids (e.g., military, university, airports).
- Hospitals and healthcare campuses.
- Emergency response facilities.
- Industrial facilities.
Aboveground storage tank and underground storage tank manways are small components with an outsized impact on whether backup power is reliable when the main power source fails.
Why Manways Are Mission Critical for Data Center Backup Power
Diesel fuel that sits in a generator bulk tank for more than a few months will not remain in prime condition without maintenance. Generators deployed for modern data centers use exceptionally high-quality fuel. Therefore, water, particulates, and microbial growth can cause the kinds of failures that data centers can’t afford.
Fuel polishing is a critical part of maintaining a high-performing backup-power storage tank. When sizing for filtration equipment that services fuel-storage tanks through a manway, a fuel polishing rig, including its hoses and filters, must be able to fit through the opening. Manway sizing should be specified for this equipment, which is typically beyond the size of a personnel-entry manway.
Specification Differences for AST and UST Manways
Although ASTs and USTs serve the same primary function, the surrounding environment informs the specs.
- Manways for aboveground storage tanks (ASTs): Because these tanks are exposed to weather and are susceptible to corrosion, consider manway hardware that takes environmental exposure into consideration.
- Manways for underground storage tanks (USTs): Buried tanks that are accessed from grade level need to be sealed against groundwater intrusion. Manways for these tanks should be built to accommodate their environment and the secondary containment structures that protect fuel, such as double-wall or jacketing.
Manway Product Specs You Should Note
During specification for aboveground storage tank and underground storage tank equipment, certain product lines and features are worth close observation to ensure you’ve chosen the configuration that best supports your project. These products should also include manufacturing innovations that provide a marketplace advantage.
- Look for a tank manway manufacturer that builds a wide range of sizes (16”–42”) for various tank entry and egress functionality. OSHA references a 24” manway for personnel entry, whereas entrance for fuel cleaning equipment for data center backup storage tanks requires larger manways. Your OEM should provide various options for manway covers, gaskets, and other hardware.
- Reverse flange manways designed for double-walled, jacketed, or composite UST or AST tanks, so that the outer containment layer of the tank is not compromised.
- Roof manholes built to API 650 for steel oil storage tanks.
- Accessory products like lid isolating sets and sump separation sets for applications, such as containment and isolation.
When specifying, work with your OEM to provide details on tank construction needs by including these details:
- Single-wall, double-wall, jacketed, or composite
- Tank standards (e.g., UL, API)
- Required access dimensions
- Tank material
- Accessory requirements for watertight sealing or electrical isolation
Now It’s Time To Identify a Leading OEM for Manways and Other Tank Equipment
Whether you’re an engineer on a fuel storage project or specifying and procuring equipment like stainless-steel manways, consider developing a strong partnership with an OEM that designs with your applications in mind.
Strategically identify a team that offers particular emphasis on fuel and chemical storage in the data center, generator set, microgrid, and backup power market, while prioritizing your need for innovation, compliance, and safety to grow your advantage over competitors. This manufacturing team should also demonstrate their reputation by having relationships with a variety of manway suppliers.
Also consider a manway manufacturer that provides custom product development for unique circumstances, one-off projects, and unexpected requests downstream. Having an agile team that can design and build to order provides additional value to your customers.
Backup power needs show no signs of slowing down. Keep up with this pace by partnering with a fuel equipment manufacturer that knows the urgency of your mission and helps you scale right alongside this future-forward market.