From two bespoke panels to a tank manufacturer's own range of fuel panels

The requirement

Control panels for two of the manufacturer's products. A dual pump transfer panel keeps a generator day tank filled from the bulk tank: four day tank levels (high alarm, stop, start and low alarm), a bulk tank low warning and a low level inhibit, a bund alarm, and a 24V DC output to the control valve whenever a pump runs. A polisher panel runs the fuel polishing pump on a seven-day timer and proves that it is actually moving fuel. The manufacturer's existing polisher control was a plastic IP20 box; they wanted something better, and as they put it when ordering: "we need a datasheet creating and a full labelled wiring diagram."

The constraints

• Panels that would become the manufacturer's own products, so documented as products: datasheet, labelled drawing, the same build every time.
• Pumps inhibited on a bund alarm or a bulk tank low level, and stopped by a fire valve, so a dry bulk tank or a leak cannot run the pumps.
• Volt-free outputs for the building management system, a remote beacon, and an alarm the operator can mute.
• A layout and enclosure size the manufacturer could design into its own pump set assemblies.

What we built

The transfer panel runs on a Siemens LOGO! with an expansion module: direct-on-line starters with contactors and thermal overloads for each pump, pump thermal switch inputs, hand/off/auto and a reset for each pump, alternating duty, and lamps for every level and alarm on the door. The polisher moved into a steel enclosure with a proper contactor and overload, a seven-day timer, a flow-proving timer with a flow failed lamp and reset, low level and bund alarm inputs, a sounder with mute, and volt-free outputs for each state. Once both had proved themselves we made the transfer panel a standard, with a version for two day tanks. The Premium range that followed keeps the emergency stop and adds an RCD-protected socket on the door, a switched supply for a cabinet light, a supply for the tank contents gauge, a low-voltage bund probe circuit, a beacon output and, for the first time, a combined panel that runs two transfer pumps and the polisher from one enclosure. We sent 3D models and fascia renders so the manufacturer could design the panels into its own assemblies.

Delivery

The first pair was ordered in January 2026 and despatched in March. Three standard dual pump transfer panels, one for two day tanks, followed in June and were despatched at the end of July, and we brought the first transfer panel back and rebuilt it to the two-tank layout so the manufacturer's units match. The first set of the Premium range, transfer, polishing and combined, was ordered in October 2026.

The outcome

Four orders in ten months, and a range built to the manufacturer's own product codes, which started with two panels and a request for a proper wiring diagram.