I poseted a message yesterday and am stuffed if I can find it. so here it is again
Has anyone ever made a corrugated metal rain water tank
I live in an area with no mains water connected, so rely on rainwater collected from my roof into two 22,500 ltr tanks 13,000 of which is reserved for bushfire fighting.
With a growing family and drought I need another tank.
The price of one of these tanks is approx $2500 AU.
These tanks are old technology and simply curved corrugated metal riveted together.
I know that you can order the steel from suppliers curved to any radius you like.
plastic would appear a better cheaper option, there was a tv show dream house? a new home built in denver on the side of a hill, with no water service they had a room for a plastic water tank with regular deliveries.
plastic never rusts leaks etc plus must be cheaper
I know some people are under the impression that plastic lasts forever... but it gets brittle and eventually cracks. I was removing a sink today to install granite counter tops and the brittle plastic piece which connects to the stainless steel broke off on me instead of unscrewing. I stored a lot of old mail rubber-banded by date and when I went to go through it years later to throw 99% of it out all the rubber-bands had broken by themselves. The rubber hoses in your car eventually leak. Ultraviolet also causes many plastics to fall apart. Many plastics are even slowly eaten by microbes. While plastic is a miracle of "modern science" and the best choice for many many applications it is normally not a good idea to count on it lasting longer than concrete, stone, or metal which was properly designed and maintained. I do not know if it is the right choice for the OP's application, perhaps it is. It is probably the cheapest.
Plastic is the same price as metal to buy approx $3000 for a 23000ltr tank (6000 Gal), the difference being I was hoping to make the tank.
The other issue with a plastic tank is Bushfires. I live in an area of high bushfire risk and the thought of my plastic tank melting is not comforting. i also have two existing tanks and would like to match them
These things are an australian icon and take on a second life when rusted out as wood sheds, cubby houses, dog houses, chicken sheds etc etc.
My existing tanks have a polymer film applied to the inside called 'Aquaplate' which protects the metal from the effects of electrolysis. The manufacturers of this steel "BHP" gaurantee itl for 25years.
You can buy this stuff in sheets so I am really thinking hard about having a crack at it.
Also, does anyone know if solid rivets are much stronger than 'Pop' rivets.?
I cant see how you can roll corrugated iron without a set of "corrugated iron rollers". You can make tanks out of flat sheet but you said you wanted it to match what you have already. Also moving and supporting a tank made out of flat sheet is more work.
Solid rivets are stronger in sheer and tension than "normal" pop rivets.
If i was making a DIY water tank i think i would use a plastic lined hole and put some sort of decking over the top.
You can buy the iron already rolled to what ever specification or profile you want. They just charge a little extra to roll it.
I'll probably go with solid rivets as due to the round shape of the tank the steel is in tension and all the rivets would most likely be needing to have good shear strength.
If you can get the corrugated iron rolled to the diameter of your tank then you're half way there. I thought you were going to start with flat sheets of corrugated iron.
As for the rivets, although solids will make it a two person job, if you have the tools I'd just copy the size and spacing on the tanks you have already(as long as your new tank isn't going to be much bigger).
You'll need to join three (4 sheets if you can only get 900mm) flat sheets to make the top and bottom(if you can get them 3.5m long, ) do they use some sort of lock form joint or just a lap joint??
What sort of joint are you going to use on the top and bottom?
The top and bottom of my existing tanks is just flat sheets that are lap joined and riveted.
Since my last post I found some Australian Standards that go into all the detail.
The std has a table detailing which metal types are incompatible beacuse of electrolysis.
They do not differentiate between solid and pop rivets but do funnilly enough mention self drilling screws!!!
Self drilling screws are a marvel of modern invention, I copied a Stratco and Highcraft 6m by 6m ptiched roof patio a couple of years ago and it is basically held together with self drilling screws.
I think I will probably find out off the manufacturer the shear strength of solid rivets and see if I can get a pop rivet that is as strong. This will make it a one man job.
The joints to join the top to the bottom are just the bottom cut a bit bigger that the sides and folded up. Seal it generously on the inside and away you go.
This sounds a bit flimsy but when you think of how the force of all that water is distributed inside a cylindrical tank with the bottom sitting on a concrete slab, the force of the water would be evenly spread around the cylinder.
I am going to go to a tank shop and have a very close look at what they have done and go from there. It worked for the Patio.
This discussion seems mostly centered on the tank part of things, so I'd like to bring up a warning on the sealent side. Most sealents contain chemicals to inhibit growths (mildew, fungus, etc) that can leach into the water. Be careful on your choice of sealent. Look for "food grade" sealants
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