Another Customized PlasChem Shelter Went Out The Door

Another customized PlasChem Shelter went out the door this week to one of our customers.

This shelter incorporates our specially designed split construction enabling it to be separated making each of the sections light enough to be transported by helicopter for deployment on the top of a mountain.  One side will house the generators and the other side will house the communications equipment.




This method of construction would also be applicable when the PlasChem Shelters need to be sent by a barge or boat to their final destination.  Many of the smaller villages in Alaska are not on the road system and are therefore unable to have these trucked to their location.  Although they are not on the road system, they still need to have their communication or power generation equipment enclosed in a rugged enclosure built to withstand the elements for decades to come.

Coming up with a plan for your shelter for your specific application is what we love to do.

Give us a call at (907)376-7160 to discuss how we can help to supply your shelter needs.

Please visit our website at PlasChemShelters.com to learn more about our products or send us an email to sales@PlasChemShelters.com with any questions that you may have. 

How Much Snow Can a PlasChem Shelter Hold if a PlasChem Shelter Can Get Snow?

How much snow can a PlasChem hold if a PlasChem can get snow?

Remember the good old days when we would get so much snow that you began to wonder if it was ever going to quit?  If those days return, you can rest assured knowing that your PlasChem Shelter can handle nearly any snow load that Mother Nature can throw at it. 

Based on the engineering report that was last performed on our line of PlasChem Shelters, it showed that our shelters can withstand a snow load of a staggering 160 pounds per square foot!  In comparison, the city of Anchorage only has a minimum requirement of at least 40 pounds per square foot for a flat roof on residential properties.  Meaning that a PlasChem Shelter can hold a lot of snow!

That's 4 TIMES as much snow as what would be required if it were a home in the city of Anchorage! 

Our PlasChem Shelters can also withstand a wind load of 130 MPH based on the same engineering report.

So if/when the weather outside is frightful, your equipment inside will be delightful!    

For more information about the PlasChem Shelter and how they can be tailored for your specific application, call us at (907)376-7160.  You can also email us at sales@PlasChemShelters.com

PlasChem Shelters Played an Instrumental Role During the 7.0 Magnitude Earthquake in Alaska on November 30th.

PlasChem Shelters played an instrumental role during the 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Alaska on November 30th, 2018.

Damage to Vine Road in Wasilla Alaska after the 7.0 Magnitude earthquake on November 30, 2018

The earthquake occurred just 7 short miles north of downtown Anchorage at 8:29AM local time.  The earthquake caused numerous power outages and caused several roads to collapse as the surrounding ground shifted.  While Alaska has tens of thousands of earthquakes each year, most aren't even perceptible or are far enough away from the highly populated areas so that they do not cause any real damage or concern.  You can read more about the earthquake on November 30, 2018 on the following link from the Alaska Earthquake Center.  As of this writing we have had over 1,400 aftershocks since the one on Friday morning.

But Friday's earthquake caused thousands of Alaskans to frantically locate their loved ones and then return home to find that the electricity was out along with considerable damage inside.  Miraculously, there were no severe injuries or deaths attributed to this devastating earthquake.

Like most Alaskans, my cell phone continued to work throughout the day as though nothing ever happened.  The reason why is that most of the providers of the cellular networks across Alaska utilize our PlasChem Shelters to house their equipment.  While most of the PlasChem Shelters utilized by the cellular companies in the highly populated area of the Municipality of Anchorage and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough are on the electrical grid, they are equipped with a battery back-up system to power themselves in the event of a power outage.  On an even higher level of protection, most of Verizon's equipment has a PlasChem Shelter with a generator inside too in order to keep the batteries charged if the electrical system isn't restored within about 24 hours.




In addition to the cellular applications, PlasChem Shelters are also used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to house sensitive seismic monitoring equipment for the National Tsunami Warning Center based in Palmer, AK.  These stations monitor seismic activity all across the state so as to provide valuable information in order to protect and warn Alaskans in the event of a tsunami.  Our shelters provide the protection for that equipment to monitor what was happening and to issue the tsunami warning.  If you don't follow the National Tsunami Warning Center, here is a link to their Facebook page.  There has been a lot of informational posts on their page since Friday and is certainly worth a look when you have a few minutes to spare.

Additionally, PlasChem Shelters house the equipment for the State of Alaska Emergency Communications System.  That is a critically important function as it is the system that the police, fire, EMTs, etc. utilize every day...and especially so during an event like we had on November 30, 2018.

We customized three of our PlasChem Shelters for the IRIS Earthscope project. (seen to the right) This is an incredible project for scientists to be able to better understand volcanic and earthquake activity in North America.  You can find out more about their work on the following IRIS Earthscope Link.  PlasChem Shelters are also used by the USGS, UNAVCO, Alaska Volcano Observatory, the Geophysical Institute, and the National Science Foundation.



We wish all Alaskans a safe and speedy recovery from the Alaska earthquake on November 30, 2018 and we are proud to be fellow Alaskans during this time.

For more information about our line of PlasChem Shelters, feel free to call our shop at (907)376-7160 or email us at sales@PlasChemShelters.com and we can discuss how we can build a shelter to accommodate your needs.

Where Can a PlasChem Shelter be Deployed?

We are often asked where can a PlasChem Shelter be Deployed?  In short, they have been deployed in some of the most remote locations on planet Earth.  Here in Alaska, many of the places where telecommunication, radar, wellhead, or oil and gas equipment needs to have a protective shelter often isn't exactly accessible by road.  Sometimes the locations are literally hundreds of miles from the nearest road. 

The PlasChem Shelter's lightweight construction allows for deployment by helicopter to remote locations saving our customers tens of thousands of dollars in on-site construction costs.  Having the ability to be dropped into location, often pre-rigged with the customer's components safely mounted inside, can also save our customers months of waiting for projects to be completed due to costly weather delays.  

We're able to construct our PlasChem Shelters into separate sections in order to offer a wider selection over our standard sizes.  This also allows us to create a PlasChem Shelter package that can be safely airlifted in separate sections into position allowing it to be deployed without having to hire exorbitantly expensive, and often unavailable skycranes.  








A PlasChem Shelter is so strong, it can be designed to double as a helipad in extreme locations where it could otherwise be impractical, if not impossible, to land anywhere else at the site.




To find out more about our PlasChem Shelters, visit our website at www.PlasChemShelters.com.  You can also call us at (907)376-7160 from 8am-4:30pm Monday through Friday or send us an email to sales@arcticfiberglass.com and we will do our best to answer any questions that you may have.  

Why Should My Company Consider a Fiberglass PlasChem Shelter?

Why should my company consider a fiberglass PlasChem Shelter?  Over the next few posts we will illustrate the reasons why you should consider one.    

The number one reason that you should consider a PlasChem Shelter is that they are extremely durable and require virtually little to no maintenance over it's lifetime. 

PlasChem Shelters can be found all around planet Earth in some of the most remote locations imaginable and have been subjected to every type of climate condition that Mother Nature can throw at them.

How long will they last?  

To be completely honest, we're not exactly sure because none of them have ever failed. 

But what we do know is that we have been building these now for nearly 30 years, with almost every one of them still being utilized out in the field still doing what they were initially intended to do.  All while requiring little to no maintenance whatsoever over that time frame.

Pound for pound, fiberglass is stronger than sheet metal or any other building materials commonly used in shelters like this.  Not only is fiberglass stronger than sheet metal, but it is also highly resistant to corrosion, making it an ideal building material in areas that are on or near the ocean.  

In order to show you how strong our fiberglass configuration is we had the shop take a paper towel tube and wrap it with the same layout that we use on our PlasChem Shelters and on the Pac-Rat ATV/UTV Trailers that we also manufacture.  The following video illustrates just how strong our products are!

Feel free to call us at (907)376-7160 to have us answer any questions that you may have regarding the PlasChem Shelters or you can also send us an email to sales@arcticfiberglass.com.