Water tower / thermal mass / grow beds structure

[Frank S]

In getting ready to add some thermal mass in my green house I decided to do this by building a structure for a water tower. This structure will serve several purposes 2 300 gallon totes mounted on top will be painted black to absorb heat during the day the water in them will store the heat and radiate it off during the night time hours also eventually I will install an automatic gravity fed drip watering system to all of the grow beds as I build them and add plants but the hot water will not be dripped directly on the plants it will be cooled prior to this or fed into the soil through tubes in the bottoms of the beds
I will have 2 levels of grow beds under the tower itself to utilize otherwise wasted space.
lifting an empty tote

Tote delivery service





Pole for access to the platform

[DIYer]

Thanks Frank S! We've added your Water Tower to our Farm and Garden category,
as well as to your builder page: Frank S's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Water Tower by Frank S

tags: garden

[unhinged]

What is your foundation for this tower? (2)300 gallon totes is north of 5000lbs when full...?!

[Frank S]

What is your foundation for this tower? (2)300 gallon totes is north of 5000lbs when full...?!

Earth floor with a tarp over it to prevent grass and weeds growing in the floor 3 3x6 boards 48" long give it a total of 5.5x3x48 or 792 sq. inches.
400lbs timber for the tower 400lbs dirt for 2nd tier grow bed 5000lbs water call it 5800 lbs with a ground bearing load of 7.32PSI 1st & 2nd grow beds plus diagonal and horizontal bracing share in making it ridged and stable , it will still be standing long after I'm gone

[Toolmaker51]

8' high? I believe that will generate 0.4518752824220515 psi per foot, or 3.615002259376412 at 8'. It won't flood beds quickly; even forgotten about being open a couple hours.

[Frank S]

8' high? I believe that will generate 0.4518752824220515 psi per foot, or 3.615002259376412 at 8'. It won't flood beds quickly; even forgotten about being open a couple hours.

It would if coming out a 2"
hose

[Toolmaker51]

It would if coming out a 2"
hose

Not with a 2-1/2" replenishing line........and pressure out there to feed it.

[Frank S]

Not with a 2-1/2" replenishing line........and pressure out there to feed it.

A 300 gallon tote will empty itself in a few minutes if you just open the valve, if you don't open the top cap the water rushing out will cause enough vacuum to pull the sides in and almost collapse the tote especially if the tote is elevated and has a 2" hose connected to it leading to the ground
with that much flow volume if the replenishing line was drawn from the run off in the beds the dirt from the beds would be carried back up into the tower it wouldn't take long for the tower to be full of dirt and wouldn't hold any water.
When I get around to adding a way to irrigate I will probably use a drip or weeping hose system

[Frank S]

The totes are now full of water and painted gloss black to absorb as much heat as possible