The questions customers ask us most

Does somebody have to go inside the tank to clean it?

Usually not. Our wash trailers work a vessel end to end from the manway, so most frac tanks, ISOs, tankers, and production tanks are cleaned with nobody inside: no entry permit, no attendant, and nobody exposed to what is in there.

Some jobs still call for an entry. A vessel may have to come back cleaner than a wash alone will get it, or a tank such as an AST or a Poseidon may have to be closed out from the inside. When that is the job, our certified crews make the entry, but never before the atmosphere has been dealt with and the bulk of the material has been knocked down from the outside. Staying out of the vessel is also the cheaper way, and not by accident: no permit clock, no attendant, and no entry rotation.

Who decides whether a crew enters the vessel?

The job and the vessel decide, and your safety team has the final say. Entry is not a speed option and it is not something we do because somebody asked for it. Where an entry is required we work to your permit, the atmosphere is monitored throughout, and any treatment the atmosphere called for goes on first.

What is the 509 treatment, and does every job get it?

509 breaks down the atmospheric hazards that act fastest inside a confined space: H2S, LELs, and benzene. It is not applied to every job. Every atmosphere is tested first, and where any of those three are present the space is treated before work starts, whether a crew is going in or staying out.

Gentex is a 509 distributor. We apply it on our own jobs, on oilfield and chemical plant vessels alike, and we sell it to customers who want it for their own. What it does not do is make a vessel safe on its own. Heat, footing, and restricted access are still there, and the rest of our safety program is what manages them.

How long does a vessel take?

A tank comes back in about half the time a conventional entry clean takes. Four wands and a one-inch high-pressure jet line on each wash trailer are what do it: give a job that much reach and that much water and a clean that used to take a full shift no longer does.

That matters twice over. Less time on the job is less exposure, and it is fewer hours on the invoice at the same time.

What kinds of tanks and vessels do you clean?

ASTs, Poseidon and frac tanks, ISOs, tankers, mixers, production tanks, and industrial vessels at chemical plants.

Telling us what kind of tank it is and what has been in it is what gets you an accurate quote fastest.

Do you only work oilfield jobs?

No. The same crews and equipment work sand plants, chemical plants, and industrial and commercial facilities. Frac pond cleaning, pit cleans, containment, cellar clean-outs, and SWD cleanouts are as much of what we do as vessel work, and so is pressure washing a plant or a facility around your operation instead of shutting it down.

What hydro excavation and line work do you do?

Hydro excavation, daylighting, potholing, and line locating on in-ground utilities and pipelines, plus line jetting up to 1,500 ft and blockage removal on pipelines and plant piping.

Water moves the dirt, so the line is uncovered rather than damaged, and there is no repair crew behind us.

What happens to what comes out of the tank or the pit?

Where your location has somewhere to put it, such as an open-top pit, a frac tank, or the pond itself, our units can offload right there instead of running to a disposal to unload. That means fewer trips through your gate, less trucking on the invoice, and a job that keeps moving.

Where that is not available, the material gets hauled away by vacuum truck or in a roll-off box, depending on what the site requires. We arrange the boxes and the hauling.

What is your safety record?

Eight years in business with zero recordable incidents.

Behind that number: a jobsite safety analysis completed before work starts and revisited during the job, monthly safety meetings with the crews who do the work, GPS monitoring on our equipment, PPE matched to the task rather than to the minimum, and a supervisor on the location.

Are you registered in the contractor networks we use?

Gentex Services is registered in ISNetworld® and Veriforce®, and our records are kept current in both.

Can you send documentation for our vendor package?

Yes. Ask for our safety package and we will send our documentation, insurance certificates, and safety statistics.

How do you price the work?

You get the scope and the number up front, in plain language. No surprise line items, no padded hours on the invoice, and nothing quietly cut out of the scope to make the number look better.

The more you can tell us about the vessel or the facility, the site, and the timeline, the more accurate that number is.