3000 gallon water tank and stand

[Frank S]

This is probably one of my larger builds that is not a building even though it will have an enclosure which will be a pump and filtration shack
3 years ago I bought a 3000 gallon pressure tank that was used as water storage the tank was rated to 60 PSI about 6 months back I finally had it hauled to my place and dropped off in front of my shop and I have been wanting to put it to use ever since so over the past couple of weeks I repaired the clean out man hole should be called the child hole because no one over the age of say 10 years old would ever be able to fit through an 8 by 14inch opening anyway.
Then I set about to add some ports nipples and valves for future use One end I just removed the cap that was on the coupling and installed a 3 inch gate valve the other end is where I did most of the work it had a 3" nipple sticking out which I welded on 2 2'pipe nipples and a 3/4" coupling then at the open end of the 3 inch nipple I welded a 3/8" thick washer with a 1 1/2" 12 ft long pipe in the center which extends almost to the other end of the tank internally this will be the out take for the water to be piped to the water tower at my house. the reason for this was I will be filling and removing the water from the same end but I wanted the out flow to be from the far end it is all about my planned circulation and continuous filtration flow scheme
the stand for the tank or tower if your will is just over 10 ft tall with a mezzanine just over 6 ft from what the floor level will wind up being this gives me a 5 ft by 8 ft floor area located about 4 ft below the bottom of the tank which will be the location of at least 1 possibly 2 35 to 50 gallon filter arrangements and several pumps
On both ends of the stand I mounted platforms for accessibility to the valves and piping without having to stand on a dang ladder I added a narrow catwalk along 1 side to access either end and a ladder stair up to 1 of the platforms
The tank is situated about 5 or 6 feet away from the well since I plan on constructing a windmill over the well
I will probably also have an electric pump for when there is no wind I have my 1.1 KW solar system that I may install on the tower later as well but I have a 50 amp 240v supply at the pile next to the stand. So wind solar or grid the means of getting water out of the ground circulated through filters and pumped to the house will have that problem covered
the tank is also high enough that it will gravity flow to the water tower at the house but not up into the tower I will be able to have non pressured flow to the garden or the yard
As with the existing water tower I have the capability to pump water into the storage tank from a truck tank or to refill the tank of a forest service fire truck but with the 3000 gallon storage I also have a 3 inch drop line as well as a 2 inch drop line.
This old truck headache rack with drome will be perfect for the mezzanine and 1 platform

What better way of making a door jamb than to make it out of a 4" C purlin and a piece of garage door track

The jib crane came in real handy for installing the long handrail pipe for the catwalk

Projects like these are the real reasoning behind my wanting oversized door openings

Site leveled sheet metal laid on the ground stand and tank on top the sheet metal will keep grass and weeds from growing up around it I may dump gravel over it or pour a slab on it later

[DIYer]

Thanks Frank S! We've added your Water Tank Stand to our Dollies and Stands category,
as well as to your builder page: Frank S's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Water Tank Stand by Frank S

tags: stand, tank

[Frank S]

Here is a partial list of the materials for the tower stand
to start off with I had made a leveling drag back when we were working on the shop floor it was made of 2 8" wide flange beams and the angle iron frame work left over from a scorpion safety stinger I had scrapped for the aluminum in it
these frames made out of mostly 3 1/2"x 3 1/2" by 1/2" thick angle iron welded together to make a 2ft by 6 ft frame
the Legs of the tower are made of the beams from the leveling drag and 2 8 inch diameter pipes
the X bracing and the hand rails are made out of 1 1/2" sch 40 sprinkler pipe I used about 150 ft total
the cradles for the tank came with the tank which I paid about $150.00 for several years ago the headache rack I made for my Freightliner back in 1991 a lot of it was used material back then so this time is the 2nd up cycle for that material at least
the cat walk was new old stock bought in an auction several years ago the 2nd platform is made out of the floor frame from a salvaged deer stand the rest of the deer stand was up cycled last year into a small trailer .
I did have to buy about $500.00 worth of brass valves 2 &3" pipe nipples but managed to re use several SS steel nipples and fittings and 1 2" stainless ball valve that I had bought in an auction years ago otherwise I probably would have had to spend another couple hundred bucks. I will probably have to spend another $1000.00 on plumbing supplies before the tank is fully connected to the well the house tower all of the pumps and filters
the tank weighs 5000 lbs and the tower stand is about 2500 lbs

[NortonDommi]

Well that is a solid job Frank. Paint? I ask because where I live steel outside without protection doesn't last.

[Frank S]

Well that is a solid job Frank. Paint? I ask because where I live steel outside without protection doesn't last.

It will get painted eventually but not when the temperatures are in the triple digits the Paint I use also need above 40% humidity and preferably in the 50 to 60% range.
But if I never painted it, it would take 40 years to turn into something unstable in the climate we have
If I hear there is a possibility of rain in the up coming days I may try to get out there around 5:30 one morning and splash a couple gallons on it

[Frank S]

My planning was when I started work on the water tank was at first to simply pour a pair of footings then set the tank and saddles on them, construct a windmill to pump the well water through a 300 lb sand/ charcoal then into the storage tank and leave it at that. Then simply pump the water from storage to my existing water tower I have at the house and rely on my final 3 stage filtration system to do the rest.
Then the old tired brain cells began working over time stinking up the house the more i thought about it, the more I decided I should do more.
For the past 3 years since I constructed my water system I have been hauling city water at 300 gallons a trip which hasn't been that bad, nor has it been something which has otherwise been time consuming or financially draining. We only go to town when we need supplies and always try to have an empty tank on my truck each time, sometimes I would porously have to drain out enough water from the tower onto the garden, the plants the wife has growing or on the lawn just to have enough empty volume in the tower to to accept a tank full of water before we headed to town.
Every so often I completely drain the tower of its 600 gallons to be able to refill with fresh water this seems to have a positive effect on the longevity of my filters as well.
So in thinking about my accepted routine if I am now going to be my own main supplier and if at all possible do not plan on having to chlorinate or otherwise chemically treat my storage, I would need to take my water production to the next level. The most logical course of action for this would be to elevate the storage tank and take advantage of gravity in the filtration process plus my well has a history of silting up with sand meaning the previous owners had to have it back flushed every few years although a lot of this I suspect was due to their having a 35 GPM pump in the well drawing the water through the strata at a high rate of flow.
I know for a fact that the well service guy had to service the well every 3 or 4 years sometimes more often Of course it was in his best interest not to teach the folks how to take steps to prevent this from happening, that and most people would not have the resources or abilities available to that I have.
My proposed continuous flow filtration system should #1 remove most pathogens should they exist prior to the water being pumped up into the storage tank and #2 reduce or prevent most soluble particulates from accumulating in the tank, #3 I will have the ability to back flush the well itself with clean water in much the same way a swimming pool system is flushed, should the need arise without having to pull the well. The only time the well should have to be pulled would be to replace the so called leathers in the pump cylinder.
And yes there are plans for continuous UV as well as infused aeriation in the works

[NortonDommi]

The filtration and treatment plans sound awesome. Here the U.E.I. braindead bureaucrats are telling people that you can't drink rainwater because it is dangerous. This is despite rainwater collection being in use ever since water collection began and a very large percentage of the population still using it.
The "continuous UV as well as infused aeration in the works" will have bottlers begging for a supply!

[Toolmaker51]

Hmmmm. My building (1898) was constructed sans utilities. There is no water or sewer. Electricity went in about 1950, panel upgrade 70's. There is a gas standpipe. I figure the grain milling equipment was gas motored or three point PTO.
Being in town can't avoid a sewer connection, nowhere it's specified a requirement to subscribe water. I'm positioned though between two water customers. It'll depend on access versus concrete floor and parking pad.
Wonder if a tower and pump causes jealousy?

[Frank S]

Hmmmm. My building (1898) was constructed sans utilities. There is no water or sewer. Electricity went in about 1950, panel upgrade 70's. There is a gas standpipe. I figure the grain milling equipment was gas motored or three point PTO.
Being in town can't avoid a sewer connection, nowhere it's specified a requirement to subscribe water. I'm positioned though between two water customers. It'll depend on access versus concrete floor and parking pad.
Wonder if a tower and pump causes jealousy?

I can think of several valid reasons for having water storage in a commercial building located within the confines of a municipality
However the means to fill it may be limited.
rain water collection is certainly one good method for this though if you are needing to make it a potable supply then you will need 2 storage units. the first would be the collection unit located below the gutter down spouts a screen needs to the at the intake to prevent larger particles from entering the catch tank . this water would then require a good filtration process such as a slow sand biological filter then an activated charcoal filter. These are to filter out as many pathogens' and pollutants out of the rain water as possible before the water is pumped into the main storage tank. the main storage tank should have continuous circulatory filtration adding a UV filter as well as aeriation or even an ozone generator will reduce the reoccurrence of bacteria production.
Rain water has been collected and used as a source of water since time immoral however ever since the dawn of the industrial revolution global rains have become natures way of cleaning pollutants from the air but cities throw more brown sludge into the air than the rains can readily remove.
the second source of filling a storage tank would be to have the water trucked in this will most likely be potable city water, once it is in the tank then the afore mentioned circulation filters need to be employed .
the 3rd way would be to connect to the city water supply and use the storage tank mainly for industrial purposes or maintain filtration.
In any case the higher the storage tank can be placed the better but if you are looking to have comparable pressure to that of a city tap you would need it located 45 to 60 feet high.
Had I though ahead I might have considered constructing my shop building to have my storage tank located about 12 to 15 feet above the apex of my roof but with materials available that was not structurally feasible

[road-warrior]

I admire ingenuity and the willingness to be creative on projects. However, I suspect that you are not trained in structural engineering, given what is described in written text and what is shown in your photographs. While this project may be for personal use on private property, I wonder if your local building codes department still has jurisdiction. Such a system to support nearly 25,000 pounds of water, the tank, structure, platform live load, and to withstand wind or seismic loads, appears lacking in many regards. The support of the tank through the saddles may create point loads the tank designer did not envision, as well. In addition, no description could be seen as to how the platform legs transmit vertical and lateral loads to the ground, and lateral bracing of the system was not evident. I offer this information to you in order that you can be aware of the many items that must be considered such that a safe and code-compliant system in provided. Life safety for any who will be on or around your assembly is paramount. If the item should collapse and someone is injured or worse, you as the property owner will be held responsible, and your property insurer will hire an engineering consulting firm to determine the cause of failure - I know this to be accurate, because I conducted many forensic evaluations when actively practicing engineering over my long career. In your best interest, I recommend you engage a qualified engineer to review and evaluate your project; the small expense now could far offset future costs should something untoward happen.