What type of tank?

Discussion in 'Designing, building, making and powering your life' started by Tulipwood, Feb 16, 2009.

  1. Tulipwood

    Tulipwood Junior Member

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    We're building soon on our land outside Kilcoy, Qld. The builder has quoted for zincalume rainwater tanks (our sole supply). Can anyone give me any advice on the benefits or otherwise of zincalume, the poly ones or Aquaplate?
    If there's a place on the internet I can go to read comparisons or factual information about them could you please share.

    Thank you
    Tulipwood
     
  2. Michaelangelica

    Michaelangelica Junior Member

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    Re: What type of tank?

    Me too please.
    How long do the plastic ones last. Conventional round (cheapest or space saving oblong/modular.
    or
    the big under-house under-deck bladder types
    and
    for fire prone areas what about cement and brick tanks?
    A few were saved in those in the Victorian Firestorm while other tanks melted/vaporised or boiled people.
     
  3. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    Re: What type of tank?

    g'day tulipwood,

    poly is still the most used in rural, zinc tanks rust out sooner or later, and cement tanks have cracking problems, so guess nothing is without some problem. i've yet to see a poly tank with damage after a fire, i've been taking particular note of the recent tv pics, one poly i saw right near a burnt out house was still standing and seemingly unscarred, likewise the zync tanks are going to need to be replaces as the coating has been damaged and they will now rust thes also have a silastic type sealer used in their joints(many), likewise a few months back a house out the back of ipswich somewhere which also was completely destroyed by fire had a poly tank right there next to it, again seemingly with no damage from the fire.

    if you build in steel and keep vegetation clear of the home your chances are so much more improved, and up here we don't get those sorts of fires as they do in that drier atmosphere.

    anyhow just as a price comparrison contact bundaberg poly industires, they deliver to you area and they have a good reputation in the bush.

    len
     
  4. derekh

    derekh Junior Member

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    Re: What type of tank?

    I'll put up hand up and say that I am very happy with my 14500 litre Bundaberg poly tank. I got mine before the market went crazy and the prices went up by more than the rebate but still managed to get $1300 worth of rebates for a $1950 tank. The same tank now is close to $3k I think.

    I would only ever buy from long term established tank manufacturers such as Bundaberg, Bushmans, Clarkes, Poly, etc. Too many startup companies jumped on the bandwagon with inferior products and cried poor when the rebates stopped or decreased.

    cheers
    Derek
     
  5. bazman

    bazman Junior Member

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    Re: What type of tank?

    I just installed 2x 34k lt concrete tanks at my place, no fire will be damaging these two beasties. Your welcome to drop over and check out the install.

    https://www.allcastprecast.com.au/
    These guys were great to deal with.

    Our old concrete tank was built in 1970 and is still pretty good, has needed a few small fixes but nothing major so far, my new tanks are much better quality.
    I use plastic tanks for watering the orchard but I don't trust them for drinking water.
     
  6. springtide

    springtide Junior Member

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    Re: What type of tank?

    I grew up with a 105k concrete tank and we had to seal it in a few spots after 15 years or so, on the other hand poly tanks usually have a 20 - 25 year guarantee and tests indicate 40-50 years lifespan. uPVC softens at about 140 and melts at about 160 - so if they are full of water they should survive anything as the water would warm up and boil away before they could soften and melt (the old make a small tray out of paper and 4 paper clips fill with water and boil water over candle trick). If i had the choice i would use poly as they last and are cheap and easier to repare than steel if you get a hole - and have a smaller concrete one for fires and droughts.
     
  7. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    Re: What type of tank?

    Does the water from a plastic tank taste like water from a plastic water bottle does?
     
  8. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    Re: What type of tank?

    g'day eco',

    nope.

    they are made from food grade australian made polymers, i ahve never detected any taste issue other than pure clean water. all tanks of course are going to leach i expect, zincaluum tanks have the zinc coating and their silastic type sealants, and if they are coated that is a polymer based paint (dunno how this goes with transporting and handling? would expect that at some time cracks could occur in the piant coating), and cement tanks well cement product nowadays is full of fly ash from the power stations so not sure what nasties if any could be involced there also i expect whatever else goes into concrete, lime and whatever, again they can crack and be unreliable to repair, knew a farmer up the highway he got rid of his leaky one in preference for a bundy tank, would also wonder if concrete getting a lot of heat in one spot may have some short fall thereafter? be good place to hide some industrial wastes?

    anyhow in this imperfect world nothing is perfect hey, it comes down te lesser of all evils i suppose, still a lot more poly tanks in the bush than the others.

    len
     
  9. MonteGoulding

    MonteGoulding Junior Member

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    Re: What type of tank?

    We recently purchased two 5000 gallon poly tanks, one to collect from the roof and one to pump up to as a header tank up the hill. Since hearing that poly tanks melted in the fires I've been thinking about wrapping them with chook wire and rendering them. Anyone have any thoughts on this idea?

    PS I don't think I would ever buy another type of tank. We were moving it using ropes and a 25ton excavator and the ropes broke. The thing just bounced, no cracks, nothing. Holds water perfectly. The delivery driver told me I could tie it to my ute and drag it around the paddock and I didn't believe him until I saw it survive the drop. Try doing that with a steel tank and see if it holds water!

    Cheers

    Monte
     
  10. bazman

    bazman Junior Member

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    Re: What type of tank?

    The concrete in our tanks contained no fly ash.

    It will be interesting to see how all these plastic chemical tanks hold up under 20/30 years of Australian Sun, One other thing to be careful of on rural properties with large poly tanks is if they get completely drained they can blow away during storms. I don't know if these plastic tanks contain bisphenol A, but I don't intend to read a story in 20yrs time like the following about plastic tanks I have installed.
    https://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-04-18-bpa-danger_N.htm

    As Len said nothing is perfect.

    I also go a long way to keep my roof and gutters clean, I filter water before storage and I run fine and super fine micro filters before drinking.

    Baz
     
  11. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    Re: What type of tank?

    have you got instances where it is shown that a poly tank melted in a bushfire? just i am yet to see though i have seen many poly tanks right besude house that are completely demolsihed by fire seemingly still intact. if you have the end resuts then maybe you could consider cement rendering, though tanks do flex as they fill and empty, suppose one might build a besser block wall around the tank.

    not sure 'baz' if the fly ash goes into the production of cement how is one assured there is none in the cement used in water tanks? suppose they could make 2 grades of cement one for water tanks (might be expensive) and one for all other applications?

    the polymers used in most food & drink containers as in that story you posted comes from china, and no one know what they put in their polymers as they are allowed to keep the recipe secret, sadly it did lots of damage when used in baby food, just can't be trusted hey, when money is involved. still a lot of old poly tanks in use beyond that 20 year mark i would suggest.

    len
     
  12. bazman

    bazman Junior Member

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    Re: What type of tank?

    Fire protection around tanks, remember concrete/bricks absorbs the heat and that is re-radiated so it might make things worse, A chemical or fire proof coating might be a better option than a large mass of concrete.

    The owner of the tank company reasured me the concrete contained no flyash.
     
  13. MonteGoulding

    MonteGoulding Junior Member

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    Re: What type of tank?

    Sorry, nothing specific, just what I heard. We don't have a TV so I'm unsure if it's just a rumor??? Please correct me if I'm wrong. If the tank is full I imagine it would be very hard to melt it. Empty it might be another story. When buying the tank I spoke to a steel manufacturer about fire and he suggested the solder would melt away in the steel ones also.

    Cheers

    Monte
     
  14. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    Re: What type of tank?

    What about the waste at the end of the tanks life? Can the plastic be recycled?
     
  15. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    Re: What type of tank?

    to tell you the truth i've never heard of anyone with a poly tank that came to the end of its life, but also can't see why it couldn't be recycled. never ever seen a collapsed tank at a dump.

    len
     
  16. Alex M

    Alex M Junior Member

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    Re: What type of tank?

    I have two plastic tanks, which I'm sure can be recycled when they are of no further use (a very long time from now), but I still think it's worth looking at stainless steel - viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5204&hilit=+stainless
     
  17. Julian

    Julian Junior Member

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    Re: What type of tank?

    We're thinking about undergrounding our tanks due to the limited urban site area, so our choices are more limited

    The structural doughnut shaped poly tanks and concrete

    The poly tanks arent cheap (about $3500 for a 5000L) and im not sure how long they last and sounds like concrete can crack? Im also worried about the porosity of concrete as we also plan to have a Biolytix/Grey water subsurface irrigation system - not over it of course, but not ultra far away either.

    Anyone used the doughnut tanks?
    https://www.tankmasta.com.au/undergroundwatertanks.asp
     
  18. Mudman

    Mudman Junior Member

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    Re: What type of tank?

    Be careful when locating teh different items as there are rules which govern exclusion zones.
    I think the biolytix and greywater area has to be more than 6m away from any watertank or house etc.
    Cheers
    Kurt
     
  19. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    Re: What type of tank?

    i've seen poly tanks used as inderground tanks, that is just the normal round tank, the only thing is i'm not sure what they did over the top, or how secure the top of a poly tank might be in that situation if you walked on it, might be that a wooden deck over the top would suffice for that part of it. but one thing nothing from the outside would be seeping through to what's on the inside of thank i shouldn't imagine.

    have you shopped around on your tank prices? i didn't notice where you are, but often rural tank makers do better deals and their tanks are renowned.

    len
     
  20. Michaelangelica

    Michaelangelica Junior Member

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    Re: What type of tank?

    An article about tanks iI found this especially interesting:-

    https://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Ra ... ion/465005
     

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