Wooden water tank

Any use? You should get some good ideas from the below.

You could try digging a large pit, lining it with very large plastic sheets, and if required to protect from cold put a strong roof over it and place soil on top. P.S. might be a good idea to put fence around it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlMp3fvfHx0

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Water/Water.htm

http://www.electronicpeasant.com/projects/rampump/rampump.html

http://www.draytontank.co.uk/

http://www.maddisonwatertech.co.uk/

http://business.shop.ebay.co.uk/Storage-Tanks-/147793/i.html?_nkw=water+storage+tank

http://www.ehow.com/how_2135371_buy-large-water-storage-tanks.html

http://www.tanks.co.nz/

There was a really nice show on PBS maybe 15 years ago. It was something like "This old mill" or "Yankee stock tank cooper" or some such thing. I can't remember at the moment, but perhaps somebody on here remembers the show. The really memorable scene was when the guy went to thread the ends of his tension bands, he had a hole cut in the side of the mill so it would fit where he wanted to do this? Anyway, the show really explained in detail how to get watertight joints.

Did anybody else see this Do you remember the name?

Durn! I think I got it! It was Ben Thresher's Mill. Now, where can you find a good collection of PBS tapes? Maybe the New York Public Library?

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I had trouble finding the information. in the states you call them water towers.

i was looking under water tanks

http://sleekfreak.ath.cx:81/3wdev/VITAHTML/SUBLEV/EN1/HYDRARAM.HTM

http://www.water-towers.com/wtrsforsale.html

http://www.davebodnar.com/railway/watertower/

http://www.lookout-towers.com/Wtrsinfo.html

Coopers build barrels and tanks, so I went for cooper and didn't bother with tanks.

Here's a site for pumps.

And thats the beauty of this site, it has people from all sorts of backgrounds willing to help

Dear Sir you will find that a wooden water tank is not a feasible idea. If a tank is made from wood it will start to grow all kinds of bacteria and the wood itself would grow fungi/ mould. The water Bylaws in england prohibits the use of such porous material's as wood even for tank covers.

you can get pressed steel panels about 4 feet square that bolt together with a gasket between the panels to prevent leakage.

I would check with your local water supplier first before starting this project.

You might find that the Bactria might find its way back to your supply if you are not careful.

I dont think he lives in uk.

and it would appear if you look at some of the links i have supplied that wooden water tanks have been used for a long time in the USA

I'm guessing you never cleaned out a concrete cistern before. No self-respecting bacteria would ever dare live in one of those.

BS.

According to Wallace Rosenwach, chairman of the Long Island City-based Rosenwach Group, which has been in the water tank business for more than a century, about 99 percent of New York City's residential water tanks are constructed out of woodeither cedar or California redwood. The remaining one percent are constructed out of steel; however, most of the steel tanks that have reached the end of their useful lives are being replaced with wood tanks. Wood tanks are cheaper, they don't corrode and they don't give water a metallic taste. Plus, wood tanks do a better job of minimizing the effects of seasonal temperature fluctuations.

One of things that was pointed out to us in a recent tourist trip to NY was the wooden water tanks. They have also been used in the UK for centuries.

Would that be the same stupid law that stops school kitches using wooden chopping boards wich are much more hygienic than the plastic ones?
Many wood have natural antibacterial properties, notably Beech, traditionally used for Butcher's blocks.
Water left on it's own in any container will go manky, unless it's v pure to start with.
Del

Was watching the Quest Channel tonight at 8pm here in the UK.

And the below was on, about the wooden water tanks in a small place

called New York, Where ever that is.

The Construction was amazingly simple.

Hope this helps

http://www.freeview.co.uk/freeview/TV-Guide

Dirty JobsQuestDirty Jobs of the Big Apple
Reality series presented by Mike Rowe. Join Mike as he takes on some of the dirtiest jobs in New York City. First he scales a skyscraper to build a water tower on the roof before trying his hand at lift repair.
Documentary
Mike Rowe

Thank you all for the comments on useing wood as a tank matirial. and to the replies to my post advising against the use of wood.

You will find that all water tanks should be cleaned out every 6 months and sterilised to stop the spresd of legionella and contaminates from animals that may enter the tanks even die in them thus poluting the water.

You may be able to paint the inside of the tank with the same rubber solution that they use for potable water in metal tanks.

At the end of the day the disision is your's, and do you want to take the risk?.

As before i would advise you to seek advice from your local water supplier before doing anything.

A wooden water tank in the U.K. nowerdays would be classed as an illegle fitting and would be subject to a £200 fine every day that it remains in placeand a further £200 for every time it is used.

Wooden components are not listed in the water useage directory for the U.K. any fitting that is not listed is an illegal fitting even if it is made out of copper, Copper being a natrural disinfectant to water.

The water bylaws state in section 7/ Materials and construction of water fittings. byelaw 51 / 52 that: MATERALS AND CONSTRUCTION OF WATER FITTINGS, PIPES, PIPE JOINTS AND PIPE FITTINGS, CISTERNS AND CYLINDERS.

51/

No water fitting which conveys water supplied by the undertakes for domestic purposes shall-

(a) be made wholly or [artially of, or incorporate, or

(b) be lined or coated with,

Any material or substance which contaminates, or is likely to contaminate, such water by altering its colour, odour, taste or comosition.

52/

Every water fitting shall be constructed of materials, the nature, the sterenght and thickness of which( including any internal lining or external coating) will prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, damage from-

(a) any external load;

(b) vibration, stress or settlement;

(c) intrnal water pressure;

(d) internal and external tempertures; and

(e) corrosion.

Section 4. Byelaw 30 requirments.

Cisterns storing water for domesticpurposes.

(1)

Every storage cistern for water supplied for domestic purposes, shal-

(a) be installed in a place or position which will prevent the entry into the that cistern of surface or ground water, Foul water, or water which is otherwise unfit for human consumption; and

(b) comply with paragraph (20.

(2)

Every cistern of a kind mentioned in paragrph (1) shall-

(a) be insulated against heat and frost; and

(b) when it is made of a material which will, or is likely to, contaminate stored water, be lined or coated with an impermeable material designed to prevent such contamination;

(c) havea rigid, clse fitting and securely fixed cover which-

(1) is not airtight,

(2) excludes light and insects from the cistern,

(3) is made of a material or materials which do not shatter or frgment when broken and which will not contaminate any water which condenses on its underside,

(4) in the case of a cistern storing more than 1000 liters of water, is constructed so that the cistern may be inspected and cleansed without having to be wholly uncovered, and

(5) is made to fit closely around any vent or expansion pipe installed to convey water into the cistern; and

(6) be provided with warning and overflow pipes, as appropriate, which are so constructed and arranged as to exclude insects.

This byelaws book goes on to say that a concrete reservoir, should be designed and constructed and tested in accordance with BS5337: Code of practice for the structural use of concrete for retaining aqueous liquids;.

You will also need to put into place an AIR GAP, for the inlet pipe to stop backsiphonage, The water level in the tank should be lower by over 2.5 times the diameter of the inlet pipe.

I hope that this answers some of the points rased in these posts.

Have you found a solution? I may end up building a large tank (8-10,000 gallons capacity). I think one of the most economical solutions for me (currently assuming I won't use an in-ground tank) is a vertical cylindrical wood tank with steel bands for strength and with an interior liner to contain the water. (I would be insulating my tank, as I'd be using it in a solar space heating application.)

I'd recommend you check out the Appalachian Water Tank System at:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/23333778/Appalachian-Water-Tank-System

It looks very promising, from what I can see, but I haven't paid the $20 to see the complete plans. It appears to be pretty much what I describe (vertical cylindrical wood tank with steel bands and with an interior liner to contain the water).

As far as the guy who says that a wooden tank would not work and would be illegal in the UK, I'm sure it would work, and, as long it is lined with a suitable material, I think it would be legal in the UK (even though I don't live there and know nothing about their laws except what he quoted).