3,000 GAL Exterior Water Storage Tank - Setup

[TnAndy]

The floor of my storage building is sand, about 4" deep. The only concrete I had to deal with was the footer, and I brought the water lines under it in the front. The building is cinder block except the front wall is standard wood stud construction with vinyl siding, thought being if I ever had to replace a tank, I could remove that wall and remove the tank(s).

 

[dshontell]

Love this info. I have plans to do the same on property we have in North Georgia. Trying to gleen all information I can. Does anyone know what position in the fire department to ask directly about this? We have a volunteer fire department, but I am sure there must be a few full time people too.

 

[jmc]

Are poly tanks cheaper than a cement cistern?

 

[xzcVAbc5]

Search for "Engineer775" on Youtube. He's done several of these projects. About half of his videos are about water and he is very knowledgeable.

 

[TnAndy]

Are poly tanks cheaper than a cement cistern?

Guess you'd have to price locally, but here, Tractor Supply sells a 1550gal poly tank for around 800 bucks.

If you live near an ASC store (NC, GA, SC, VA), they sell a 2500gal poly tank for $1555.
Water Storage Tank-Norwesco | Agri Supply #22854

I used a 1,000gal concrete septic tank I had them cast a pipe fitting in the bottom for me at the tank place when they built it. We used that for about 15 years at first.....I had it buried in the ground right in front of the building that now houses my poly tanks. Couple things I didn't like about it....the pipe was inaccessible, being at the bottom, so I couldn't shut it off if needed. And since I just had the one tank, when it did need cleaning (mine is spring fed constant....I do get a sediment build up), had to drain it, leaving us with no water until I got it done.

My setup now is two 1550gal poly tanks, plumbed into the same line down to the farm...but I can isolate either and clean it, leaving us with a full tank for use. Also, it tripled our storage capacity over the old concrete tank. Sometimes in the dry part of the fall, my spring gets to where it only puts out about a quart per minute.....just a little trickle. Not a big issue IF you have enough storage....even a qt/min is 360gals in 24hrs. Unless running the washing machine, I doubt we use that much per day. (only 2 in the household)


On my list of 'round-to-it' projects is a new water shed with two of the 2500gal poly tanks in it, run from a well I had drilled couple years ago (as backup, we only use it for garden irrigation if it gets really dry).

My plan is to put up also up on the mountain above the house, and gravity feed down. For a supply, I intend to use solar and one of the Grunfos SQ pumps, and simply let it up to the tanks whenever the sun shines. Put a float switch on it, so when the tanks are full, it won't run.

The line down, I intend to use 4" slip coupling PVC. Intend to run it down to the house, and put a standard firehose connector right at the garage, and keep a 2" firehose line there. We're out in the woods a long ways from the local volunteer department, and I'd like to have some fire fighting ability. Then, I'm thinking I'll run it on down to my gate, and set a standard fire hydrant (you can get them for 4" lines....already checked....local plumbing place sells them) outside my gate to the dept can pull up and refill their trucks. We have no public water anywhere up in my valley, so it would be handy for them, and all it will cost me is the hydrant and 800' of pipe, and my time. Already have an excavator.

 

[TnAndy]

Love this info. I have plans to do the same on property we have in North Georgia. Trying to gleen all information I can. Does anyone know what position in the fire department to ask directly about this? We have a volunteer fire department, but I am sure there must be a few full time people too.

Ours is also a volunteer deal. I simply went over and talked to the chief about what I intend, and got his advice.

 

[joeyd]

Love this info. I have plans to do the same on property we have in North Georgia. Trying to gleen all information I can. Does anyone know what position in the fire department to ask directly about this? We have a volunteer fire department, but I am sure there must be a few full time people too.

Our local VFD had all the information preprinted for me, all I had to do was ask.

 

[dshontell]

Thanks for the info.

Sent from my brain using TractorByNet

 

[Billrog]

I built my own concrete reservoir 12' x12' x 8' deep 23 yrs. ago the cost doing it my self form rentals and ready mix was $1,000. It's elevation above the house is enough that we have 120# pressure. I came within 30 or 40 ft. of the house with 2" sch. 40 PVC to a fire hydrant which I keep a 50' fire hose on a reel next to it.
20' above this I branched off with a 1" line to the house and workshop. My theory was I could flush the line this way once in a while and avoid sediment or crud in the pipe getting to the house but have never had any crud so lucked out but flush the line once a yr. regardless.
I came out of the bottom of the tank and installed a T in the line with 2" ball valves just out side the tank I can open or close with a rod down the 4" PVC I came to the surface with. 1 is the line to the house the other out to the edge of the bank for a drain. I stick a 8" piece of 2" PVC in the drain so we don't get water off the bottom of the tank it's not glued in and can just be pulled out to drain to the very bottom.
There's a 258' deep well 40+ gals. PM next to the reservoir with a pump installed 50' off the bottom as the well water is within 20' of the top. But we don't use this water it's only for back-up I get the water from a spring 8' under ground 1200' up the mt. with a 1" line running down drilled through the side 12" from the top and a drain drill 4" lower so the water is continuously running in and can run out when full. This water is cold and clear and never had any sediment in the reservoir . Maybe in another post I'll explain how I pick the water up at the spring so it's clear and healthy. Hope I haven't ran on to long here.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

I have a 490' well plumbed to a 2500 gallon above ground green plastic water tank. The tank feeds a jet pump that fills a pressure tank. From there the water goes through a softener and on to the house. We get very little snow here, but do see overnight temps in the 20s in the winter. I've insulated the water lines between the well head and tank and have had no problems with freezing. I've had problems with irrigation demands exceeding the well pump capacity, but the tank takes care of any short term shortages. I do have to watch the level, especially toward the end of summer when the water table drops, to make sure I'm not watering at a rate beyond what the well will produce in a day. I've never had a problem with algae, but the house sat vacant for almost two years before I bought it and there was coliform bacteria contamination in the tank. Shocking it and the well with chlorine tablets took care of the problem, and I'll drop a couple of tablets into a pool float in the tank twice a year for good measure.

I'm in a high fire hazard zone, and am thinking about adding at least 10,000 gallons of additional storage on a hill 100' above the house, primarily for irrigation but also for use in case of fire (no hydrants here, either). The jet pump will get water to the top of the hill, but I'm not sure how I'd plumb it into the existing tank at the house. When the time comes I plan to call my well driller to see if he can recommend a configuration or someone that can design one.