Coated parts often have to be brought back to bare metal before they can be recoated, reworked, or returned to service. Cured paint, powder, e-coat, anodize, or a plated deposit has to come off completely and cannot harm the underlying metal. Removal is typically done through immersion, where parts soak in a strip solution until the coating softens, dissolves, or lifts. The industrial dip tank holding that solution is the center of these operations.
Strip solutions are aggressive and not interchangeable.
- Hot caustic lifts coating from steel.
- Solvent solutions dissolve coating from aluminum and alloy parts sensitive to caustic attack.
- Acid solutions remove conversion coatings and plated deposits.
A tank built from the wrong material does not last. It softens, swells, or stress-cracks in service, and such failure becomes downtime, leaks, and a tank to replace.
The fix is a dip tank matched to the solution it holds, the temperature it runs, and the parts it will handle. Protank builds custom stripping tanks to your work specifications, in polypropylene through PVDF, built in-house, made in the USA, and delivered nationwide.
Send us your specs for a free quote from Protank’s fabrication team, or see what we build below.
Custom Chemical Stripping Tanks Built to Spec
Protank builds custom immersion strip tanks made to your specifications and the solution they will run. Commonly requested by platers and powder coaters, refinishers, MRO and remanufacturing operations, custom coaters, and aerospace depaint shops across the Gulf South and nationwide. Backed by 20+ years of custom tank fabrication experience.
Tanks are made-to-order to match the strip solution, its concentration and operating temperature, the parts and racks being stripped, and the equipment you are installing. Wall thickness and reinforcement are available when needed to match your solution’s specific gravity and thermal load parameters. Single strip tanks, strip-and-rinse pairs, and multi-tank lines are all options. Every tank is hydrostatically leak tested before it ships and arrives ready to integrate.
Where Immersion Strip Tanks Fit in Your Line
Stripping is one step in a finishing line. A part is stripped, then rinsed, commonly in hot water, before it is recoated or put back to service. Most chemical stripping runs in a single tank or a strip-to-rinse setup.
Three Substrates, Three Services
The part material and coating set the solution, and the solution sets the service. Three service types cover nearly all strip work, and each type can require different tank build materials.
For proprietary or altered solutions, compatibility must be confirmed through you and your chemical supplier. Protank builds to the confirmed material. Chemical stripping removes an applied coating, not the descaling of bare metal. For removal of mill scale, rust, and oxide ahead of finishing, see our Custom Pickling Tanks.
Built to Your Specs
Every custom strip tank is fabricated for the job. Below are tank material options, build details, and component options.
Materials
Tank body
Fittings, seals & welding
Fittings & seals
Sheet thickness
Welding
Shape, bottom & solids
- Rectangular shape standard for batch immersion, sized for rack and basket loading and overhead crane clearance, with dimensions to match the largest part stripped and freeboard for heated baths and fume capture.
- Full-drain sump or sloped bottom so spent solution is fully removable, with rounded bottom corners and a full range of drain valves to match solution-rated drainage needs.
- For powder and paint strip, sludge-collection sumps and connection points for in-line filtration and eductor circulation capture dislodged solids and extend solution life.
Heating, agitation & fume
- Ports or connections for immersion heaters or external coils, with insulation and weatherproof mastic coating for heated baths; heaters are client supplied.
- Pump inlet and outlet ports, air sparger connections, or piping manifolds for bath uniformity, with in-line filtration connections.
- Vented lids, fume hood lip edges, and scrubber connection points for integration with your extraction or scrubber system. OSHA 29 CFR 1910.94(d) governs ventilation for open-surface tank operations, and tanks can be built to accommodate your operating ventilation. See also: Custom Fume Scrubber Systems.
Structural, seals & containment
- Fittings in socket, threaded, or flanged in the types and construction material needed; for heated stripping solutions, account for thermal expansion in provided plumbing designs.
- Lifting lugs for installation and relocation; external ribs, frame, or PP-encapsulated steel for large-volume tanks to meet your specified requirements and load calculations.
- Secondary containment options: integrated containment bases, double-wall designs, or footprint sizing and drain placement for bermed installation. See also: Custom Containment Tanks.
Industries That Rely on Industrial Depaint & Stripping Tanks
Chemical stripping runs anywhere a coated part has to be brought back to bare metal, for rework, refurbishment, maintenance, or recurring line housekeeping. The applications and industries below all run immersion stripping in dip tanks.
Metal finishing, plating, and powder coating
Caustic · PP-HAerospace and aviation
Solvent · PVDFAutomotive, truck, and heavy equipment
Reman · reworkRail and transit
Large partsMilitary, defense, and firearms
Depaint · refinishMRO and remanufacturing
High-value partsMarine, energy, and industrial
RefurbishmentThe Standards These Tanks Support
Commercial and industrial coating removal is subject to certain compliance obligations that the tank and its setup should support. Application-specific compliance is an operator’s responsibility, not the product provider’s. Protank provides the vessel and its connections, with solution-compatible materials, full drainage and containment for spent baths, and ventilation connections if applicable. The tank does not certify the solution or the process.
Why We Build It Better
In-house fabrication
Every tank is built in the USA at Protank’s Gulf Coast facilities by our experienced fabrication team, which means direct quality control, consistent workmanship, and faster lead times than splitting a job across suppliers.
One source: full strip-and-rinse
Strip tanks, rinse tanks, and containment fabricated and assembled to your layout, built to one consistent spec, so companies can source work lines from one shop instead of splitting orders.
Built to your solution
Protank has the materials to hold your solution at its operating temperature, and the expertise to deliver; the result: service reliability and performance. The match is the product.
Material breadth
PP-H and PP-C, PVC, CPVC, HDPE, and PVDF for tanks; PVDF, PVC, CPVC, EPDM, Viton, PTFE, FFKM, and titanium for fittings and seals, all to match solution and temperature needs.
Retrofit and replacement
Protank builds matched replacements to drop into an existing line for aged tanks, tank liners, and new strip solutions needing a different tank construction material, not a full line replacement.
Nationwide delivery, 20+ years
Completed tanks ship across the continental US from Protank’s Gulf Coast facilities, backed by two decades of custom tank fabrication for finishing and chemical buyers.
Request Your Custom Chemical Stripping Tanks
The fastest quote comes from a drawing, STEP file, or tank spec. Protank builds to what you provide. If you are still defining the tank, these are the details that help us match and build:
- Strip solution. Type and concentration, whether caustic, solvent, acid, or proprietary.
- Parts and substrate. What you are stripping, the substrate (steel, aluminum, alloy), and the coating being removed.
- Operating conditions. Bath temperature, ambient or heated, indoor or outdoor, freeze exposure.
- Volume and footprint. Largest part or rack, immersion depth, and any worksite space constraints.
- Connections and provisions. Fills, drains, vents, pump and filtration needs, heating, agitation, fume and scrubber connections, containment, level indication, and monitoring.
One to three business day response. Drawings, sketches, and engineered specifications are encouraged and, in some cases, required.