Monitored cathodic protection, tank safety fuel new partnership

January 16, 2025 By    

Metsa and Mopeka are partnering to provide propane retailers and homeowners with what company leaders are calling a solution “born from need.”

The propane tank manufacturer and tank monitoring solutions provider, respectively, are placing their attention underground, combining their new products to give underground tank customers added safety features and “peace of mind” through monitored cathodic protection.

Photo showing a Cathodic Sentinel install on a Metsa propane tank.
Mopeka’s Kevin Jaffe, left, and Jason Peck install the company’s Cathodic Sentinel inside Metsa’s tank dome. (Photo courtesy of Metsa)

The companies plan to offer Metsa’s underground and aboveground/underground tanks preassembled with Mopeka’s Cathodic Sentinel cathodic protection system, which offers real-time access to vital data, ensuring customers’ tanks are continuously monitored and protected, according to Mopeka. The system provides daily readings of key cathodic indicators, including voltage, current and moisture levels.

“When we thought about how we wanted to go to market, we thought going to market with an OEM tank manufacturer made sense,” says Kevin Jaffe, COO and co-owner of Mopeka, about the Cathodic Sentinel.

“With Metsa, what really caught our attention was their hood, their new cover. They’re doing new things with the underground tanks. Here’s somebody doing something new, and we’re doing something new; the partnership made sense,” Jaffe adds.

Metsa featured its underground tank dome throughout 2024 while also announcing a distribution agreement for the product with Gas Equipment Co. Mopeka, meanwhile, spent the year building momentum for the Cathodic Sentinel before formally releasing the product to the industry in October.

Jaffe says Mopeka worked to release the product in timely fashion so it could address the “unprotected tanks out there that are coming due.” He estimates about 45 percent of the propane tanks in use today are underground and sees that number growing. It’s also the reason he feels technology can play an important role in protecting the tanks.

“When it came time to talk about the Cathodic Sentinel, we were looking at it from two different angles,” Jaffe says. “This is a product that’s desperately needed in the industry. The second part is we wanted to go to market with partners that we trust and do business the way we like to do business, which is customers first.”

Robert Kenney, CEO of Metsa, says the partnership “starts from a position of friendship and mutual respect.” The company has recognized the technology deployed in the industry by Mopeka “but also their attention to these things that are required for our industry that right now are not getting enough attention,” he adds.

Metsa has seen a migration to underground tanks, says Kenney, who expresses concern about the number of tanks already in the ground at risk to corrosion. Jaffe says Mopeka also will work with current customers to retrofit tanks with the cathodic protection monitoring system.

“How do we ensure the tank going into the ground is the safest possible tank there is?” Kenney asks. “This is how we guarantee it – by having daily readings of the predictor of corrosion. That’s the importance Metsa is giving to this.”

Photo of the Cathodic Sentinel installed on a Metsa propane tank
Mopeka’s cathodic protection monitoring system fits securely on a Metsa tank. (Photo courtesy of Metsa)

Metsa and Mopeka say the Cathodic Sentinel can be installed on any type or size of propane tank. Metsa sells most of its underground tanks in 1,000- or 500-gallon containers and its aboveground/underground tanks in 500 gallons and 250 gallons.

Mopeka plans to ship thousands of units to Metsa, with headquarters near Monterrey, Mexico, for preinstallation. 

In Metsa’s shop, Kenney says, the process will be “extremely easy.”

In addition, he says, Metsa will offer an extended warranty on tanks installed with the Cathodic Sentinel.

“There’s nothing to it,” Kenney says of the preinstallation with Metsa’s tanks. “It’s a clip-on, plug-in and ships ready to go. It’s mounted on the tank – you don’t have to worry about which hood you put on there. All the marketers will have to do is make sure nothing moved in shipment, put the antenna up top, and it’s ready to go.”

Jaffe adds, “There’s one probe that has a moisture sensor and half-cell. That’s the only thing the marketer will have to put in the ground when they put the tank in the ground. Everything else will be hooked up, ready to go. All they have to do is scan a QR code on the box, and it turns on. There’s no maintenance, nothing to calibrate. Once it’s installed, it just does its job.”

The system is effectively creating a circuit in the ground, Jaffe says. The power or voltage flow is moving to the Cathodic Sentinel, between the tank and anode bag, to give the propane marketers the needed data to ensure the tanks are safe.

“The key metric is that the tank is carrying a charge, and the charge is flowing from the tank to the anode bag,” Jaffe says. “That is something that we’ve never been able to see before, and that is really the defining metric.”

The system allows “flags to go up well in advance” of a problem, he adds, so marketers and homeowners can be proactive in keeping their propane tanks protected from corrosion.

“Our mission is security, safety and reliability. This is how we achieve it,” Kenney says. “These partnerships are going to drive that mission home and also allow for our marketers to have peace of mind and know that the tank is monitored and protected and for the homeowners to do the same. We fully expect this to be an absolute powerhouse in this industry, and we’re happy to be a part of it.”

About the Author:

Brian Richesson is the editor in chief of LP Gas Magazine. Contact him at brichesson@northcoastmedia.net or 216-706-3748.

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