For those of you who clicked on this entry anticipating a photo of Angela working in the laboratory without her white coat, well, I’m sorry to disappoint you. (Actually, by using the word ‘topless’ in our blog, it will be interesting to see how many extra hits we generate for our site!)

So, the truth is that our tanks are being well and truly carved up, as the whole top section of each tank (where the cooling jackets are located), is being removed. You may remember that it was the pressure inside the cooling system that caused the tanks to implode in the first place, and this is the area where the actual repair is required.

The temperature control process is effected by circulating a mixture of ice cold water and glycol around the cellar, through a series of narrow tubes that envelope each tank. As you can see from the left hand tank in the photo, this is the ribbed section at the top.

As the tanks caved in under intense pressure, the metal simply folded and many of the tubes (or jackets as we call them) were crushed or badly distorted. Of course any blockage to this system will prevent the iced water from circulating around the cellar and render the jackets useless – hence the urgent need for repair.