WARRANTY - HOW LONG IS ENOUGH?




AS WITH ANY MAJOR PURCHASE OR CAPITAL EXPENSE,
YOU SHOULD LOOK FOR THE LONGEST AND MOST
COVERAGE A COMPANY CAN OFFER YOU.

When considering a major purchase like a chemical storage building for safe and compliant storage of hazardous material and waste, one must consider what you are buying and your capacity to repair or maintain such items. Believe it or not - it's never as easy as the salesman says!

First of all, 90% of the electrical in chemical storage buildings will be "Explosion Proof" and a couple of things that must be considered are; (1) the electrical wiring is H2 Hazard Class and cannot be wired by a "regular" electrician and with normal wire you can buy at the home building supply. Conduits and fire rated seals are extremely important. And, (2) these electrical items are usually either dust ignition proof, vapor proof and more than likely explosion proof as well. These are not items you can just go out and buy at your local hardware store.

A couple of things to consider:

• Your building's Warranty will more than likely be limited to the structure ONLY. All Lights, Fire Suppression Systems, Level Detectors and common things found in a haz-mat building are going to be under the "original manufacturer's" Warranty, which may be only a year.
  
  
• Most Fire Suppression Systems are shipped "unarmed". What does this mean? It means you have to call and arrange for the manufacturer of the Fire Suppression unit (not the building manufacturer) to come out and arm the system one the building has been set in place. This may seem like a "hidden cost" but you cannot arm the system then carry it on a flatbed tractor trailer and expect that it will not go off! Also, some states have a mandatory "test" phase of the dry chem unit. If this is the case, you may want to call around and see of there is a local fire consultant that can install/arm/test your system after you have it delivered. Some of the major manufacturers of the dry chemical fire suppression systems are: Ansul and Kidde.
  
  
• With the exception of the sump or secondary containment shelving, most "hazardous locations accessories" are purchased through industrial supply companies. Grainger is probably the "WalMart" of industrial Supply and you can purchase most all replacement parts there.
  

The bottom line is that while most of the manufacturers boast of 10-20 year warranties, the FACTS are that it is the electrical accessories that will fail first and the warranty on these items is less than one year in some cases. Always insist that your components are UL Listed for quality and longer life!

Now....to the main .....WARRANTY.

10 YEARS? 12 YEARS? 1 YEAR?
STRUCTURAL IS THE KEY WORD.