We went through a building renovation and this has been a problem for us
too. In the old days, our building was simply sealed concrete - and you
could do anything with it with no issues. Now, it's an epoxy floor, but
really what happens is the liquid nitrogen cools it down and breaks the
seal between the epoxy and the concrete - causing cracks and ugliness.
We use a series of throw rugs and large containment pans to hold the
nitrogen. It doesn't really work - so every now and then we simply
repaint the floor. It's only in a few places that we use this, so it's
not too bad.
I do have 1 room that they put the wrong floor down first. It's a
spongy floor - designed to not carry a static charge. Instead of
removing the covering (which they can't do), they just went over that
floor with an epoxy coating. Oddly enough - that room doesn't crack
when I pour liquid nitrogen on the floor. So maybe that's the trick -
put a cushion between the concrete and the epoxy.
They wouldn't leave sealed concrete because it looked bad (we did a
renovation, not a new building). Too bad
Dave
On 2/16/2011 7:32 AM, Richard Edward Gillilan wrote:
This has been a problem for us too. Sorry, I don't have a solution to offer
except, recently, we have provided metal buckets filled with a layer of
aquarium gravel at each station and encouraged users to dump their excess
nitrogen there instead of on the floor.
Richard
On Feb 16, 2011, at 7:20 AM, Nicholas Keep wrote:
Can anyone recommend a floor coating that passes category 2 containment (ie not
wood) that is resistant to liquid
nitrogen. Ie you can fill dewars on without cracking. Various solutions our
estates people have fitted have all proved
unsatisfactory.
Bets wishes
Nick
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