The Importance of Drainage
in Steel Items for Hot Dip Galvanizing
Allowing for sufficient drainage points in your design is crucial to the quality of the finished product!
To get the best results with consistent, even and durable zinc coverage of any dipped items, drainage points within the design of fabricated steel items are a crucial element that must be factored into your production process.
Without drainage holes, dipped items will almost certainly have air pockets within the steel frame of the item. These air pockets will prevent the molten zinc from getting into every corner of the design and those internal areas will not be coated.
This will result in unprotected portions of the item being exposed to the elements and at risk of rusting much faster than the coated sections causing weak points in the overall design.
Besides the long-term corrosion risk, trapped air and moisture can also result in damage to the item during the dipping process. This is because of the vastly different temperatures between the molten zinc and the trapped air and moisture inside the fabricated steel. The trapped colder pockets will expand rapidly and could result in excessive internal pressure which might cause the steel to crack or deform.
Sufficient drainage will allow the pockets to escape and the pressure to equalize preventing any loss of structural integrity to the steel.
Steel items without the correct drainage also pose a safety risk to the personnel involved in the dipping process. As with the above-mentioned risk to the integrity of the steel, rapidly expanding internal pockets of colder air and moisture can result in the molten zinc being forced out of the structure under pressure which could splash and cause serious burns and injuries to anyone working near the dipping tanks.
Often drainage is an industry-standard requirement and compliance with these standards ensures any fabricated steel meets the quality and reliability guarantee insisted on by most manufacturers.
The technical sales team at Durban Galvanizing is always available to assist and consult on best practices in steel fabrication to ensure your products are coated to the highest possible standards.