Service
Plastic tank repair & refurbishment
A cracked or leaking plastic tank can usually be repaired by the same welding techniques that built it — often in place, without craning it out. Beckox repairs and refurbishes industrial polypropylene, polyethylene and PVC process and storage tanks across the UK, whoever originally made them.
Cracked process tank? Start with a photograph
Email a photograph of the damage and the tank's approximate size and contents, and we can usually say the same day whether it is repairable, whether the repair can be done in place, and what it is likely to involve. A production-critical tank is treated as exactly that — tell us what the leak is costing you and we will plan around it.
PP, PE and PVC crack repair
Thermoplastic is the forgiving family of tank materials: because the parent material welds, a crack can be ground out, prepared and extrusion-welded to restore a homogeneous wall — not patched with sealant that fails in months. Stress cracks at corners and nozzle penetrations, impact damage, failed seams and leaking fitting bosses are all routine repairs. We repair tanks built by other fabricators daily; a tank does not need to be ours to be welded by us.
On site or in the works
Where a tank can be emptied, cleaned and made safe, most repairs happen in place on your site. Where damage is extensive — or the tank is due modification anyway — it comes back to our Poole works, where it can be rebuilt on the bench: new sections welded in, fittings moved, rims reinforced, stiffening added for a duty the tank was never originally designed for.
Refurbishment and re-lining
An ageing but sound tank can often be refurbished for a fraction of replacement cost: welds inspected and re-run, worn outlets replaced, new lids and covers made, and — for steel or concrete vessels — a full thermoplastic lining installed to give the structure a new chemical-proof interior. Where repair is no longer economic we will say so plainly and quote the replacement instead; fabricating the new tank is, after all, the other half of our trade.
What we need to know
- What the tank holds (chemical, concentration, temperature)
- Material if known — PP, PE, PVC, PVDF or GRP
- Approximate dimensions and wall thickness
- Where the damage is, with a photograph if possible
- Whether the tank can be emptied and isolated for the work
Polypropylene tank repair — why welding, not epoxy
The most common question we are asked is whether a polypropylene tank can be patched with epoxy or a two-part adhesive. In almost every case the honest answer is no. Polyolefins like PP and polyethylene have a low surface energy, so adhesives struggle to wet the surface and the repair peels away under thermal cycling or chemical attack — usually at the worst moment. Welding sidesteps the problem entirely by melting the parent material and adding matching polymer, so the repair is the same stuff as the tank.
How to tell whether a tank is worth repairing
As a rough guide when you are looking at a suspect vessel: a clean crack at a corner, a leaking boss or a failed seam is normally straightforward to weld. Widespread surface crazing, chalky UV degradation across a whole wall, or distortion from long-term overheating suggests the material itself is tired, and a repair may just move the problem along the tank.
- Crazing — fine surface cracking, often around stress points and fittings
- Weld-line cracking — the original seams opening up
- UV degradation — chalky, faded, brittle outer surface on outdoor tanks
- Bulging or distortion — usually heat, overfilling or lost stiffening
- Repeated failures in the same area — a design issue, not just damage
We will give you a straight assessment either way. This is a fabricator's condition assessment based on what we can see and test, not a certified statutory inspection.
Repairs across Dorset, Hampshire and the South Coast
Being in Poole puts most of the South Coast within easy reach for a look at a leaking tank — Bournemouth, Christchurch, Wimborne, Southampton, Salisbury and the wider region. See fabrication in Poole & Dorset and our South Coast coverage. Work further afield is arranged case by case — call and we will tell you honestly whether we are the right people for it.
Repairs to industrial process and storage tanks are our trade: we do not repair domestic water butts, aquaria or potable-water storage.
PAGE REVIEWED — 30 July 2026