BIG water trailer?

[yankee dog]

First time post, long time lurker, you guys helped me build my utility trailer, and did not even know it (along with a few other projects). I'm not even sure if this is the right place for this, but here goes:

I am a member of a recreation association in michigan. We have full time and part time residents. We have 34 miles of private (dirt/gravel) roads that we maintain ourselves. We have a road grader, and a dump. We have one emplyee who works on the roads mainly, and another that maintains all the other things in the association.

We brine our roads 3 or 4 times a year. We use 36,000 gallons of brine at a cost of about $8000 each time.

We have considered brining the roads ourselves using calcium chloride (dow flake). But what we need is some type of way to apply the ca chloride.

I have seen "water trailers" for dust control and wondered if this would work as well. The bigger the better for tanks as the application rate is about 1000 gallons per mile. The dow flake would cut our brine costs in half, but a 2000 gallon tank would be lots of trips back to refill the tank.

We have considered purchasing, and building some type of equipment (like a water trailer) to apply this dowflake/brine. But again, needs to be about 3000 gallons? This is my first initial inquiry, so I am open to any suggestions on what to look for, where to start, practicle or impracticle in trying to do it ourselves (the brine application).

The nice thing about the dowflake is we could even use it on our roads in the winter for ice. Thanks, YD

 

[medicshawn]

You might look for an old fire department or military water tanker. I think you'd have better luck with a truck with a mounted tank.

 

[medicshawn]

You might want to also list there are you're located at, so people can offer you options close to your area.

 

[MarkV]

Look on the net for government surplus auction sites. There are a number of them and larger tankers come up and are sold at a reasonable price often. I just can't see how building one from scratch could be practical.

MarkV

 

[Duffster]

First time post, long time lurker, you guys helped me build my utility trailer, and did not even know it (along with a few other projects). I'm not even sure if this is the right place for this, but here goes:

I am a member of a recreation association in michigan. We have full time and part time residents. We have 34 miles of private (dirt/gravel) roads that we maintain ourselves. We have a road grader, and a dump. We have one emplyee who works on the roads mainly, and another that maintains all the other things in the association.

We brine our roads 3 or 4 times a year. We use 36,000 gallons of brine at a cost of about $8000 each time.

We have considered brining the roads ourselves using calcium chloride (dow flake). But what we need is some type of way to apply the ca chloride.

I have seen "water trailers" for dust control and wondered if this would work as well. The bigger the better for tanks as the application rate is about 1000 gallons per mile. The dow flake would cut our brine costs in half, but a 2000 gallon tank would be lots of trips back to refill the tank.

We have considered purchasing, and building some type of equipment (like a water trailer) to apply this dowflake/brine. But again, needs to be about 3000 gallons? This is my first initial inquiry, so I am open to any suggestions on what to look for, where to start, practicle or impracticle in trying to do it ourselves (the brine application).

The nice thing about the dowflake is we could even use it on our roads in the winter for ice. Thanks, YD

How are you going to make the brine?

 

[Taylortractornut]

I drive a water truck daily as part of my job at the landfill. I can tell you that 3000 gallons on a trailer would be dangerous. 3000 gallons at 8.5 PPG on a trailer would handle like a pig if unbaffled. My brother has a water truck service and we rent is and use a 1000 gallon tank on one of the rolloff trucks to. His water truck is a an F700 Ford with a 2000 gallon fuel tank he bought from fire department. They used the tank as a water tender but sold the truck. Its baffled but still you can feel it shake the truck when half full. You can pick up 2 ton truck or an old GI truck pretty cheap. Anything over 2000 gallons I would reccomend a tandem truck. My brother also has a 1200 gallon tank that slips inside his dump truck with a gravity bar for smaller jobs.

 

[yankee dog]

I drive a water truck daily as part of my job at the landfill. I can tell you that 3000 gallons on a trailer would be dangerous. 3000 gallons at 8.5 PPG on a trailer would handle like a pig if unbaffled. My brother has a water truck service and we rent is and use a 1000 gallon tank on one of the rolloff trucks to. His water truck is a an F700 Ford with a 2000 gallon fuel tank he bought from fire department. They used the tank as a water tender but sold the truck. Its baffled but still you can feel it shake the truck when half full. You can pick up 2 ton truck or an old GI truck pretty cheap. Anything over 2000 gallons I would reccomend a tandem truck. My brother also has a 1200 gallon tank that slips inside his dump truck with a gravity bar for smaller jobs.

The original thought was a slip in tank, but, at 1000 gallons per mile, and 34 miles of roads, that means lots of trips back to refill.

The brine would be dowflake calcium chloride. It is made for road treatment/dust control.

The tanker is a better thought. I just found a 3000 gallon tank for liquid manure spreading on craigslist. Not saying that is what we want, but, it is an idea.

The roads are private roads, speed limit or 25 mph. Not gonna see any highway. I admit, I know nothing about this, just now getting my feet wet with it. So not sure if baffles are needed for something that will be a slow application?

Once some type of delivery mechanism (tanker and sprayer) is worked out, then it would cut our brine costs in half.

This was something of our initial thoughts:

Water Dog 2035 'Big Dog' Water Trailer

Kiser Water Wagons by ABI Equine >>> Arena Moisture, Arena Watering System, Dust Control, Water Trailers

If it is not a practical thing for us to do (treat our own roads) then I will present that to the other members of the association as well. Just trying to do some homework. YD

 

[Kernopelli]

I have to agree on government auctions...I am a huge fan and have found some bargains. My favorite sites are http://gsaauctions.gov/gsaauctions/gsaauctions/http:/ /www.govliquidation.com/index.htmland GovDeals.com - Government Surplus Auctions Government Surplus Auctions at Government Liquidation there are often fees associated with purchase so you always want to read the small print and figure final costs. I also follow my state surplus auctions, MI probably has an online auction site for such things as well.
I did a very quick search and found this immediately. I have seen a number of tank trucks come up for sale in the past and this one is not unusual, some are rougher than others.
GovDeals.com - Government Surplus Auctions

 

[aczlan]

One thing to think about, you will be spraying brine, which will eat through steel lines. I would look for a poly or stainless tanked unit and use only plastic lines.

Aaron Z

 

[user.69169]

Before you get your feet too wet, couple things you need look into.

First Calciumchloride is some miserable stuff, kills every bit of vegitation and leaches into water wells if not handled right. That's probably why the contractor charges what he does cause you paying for his insurance on the job.

Probably the first thing you need to look into is how the Possum Police conservation fellows are going to let you put calcium down. You can bet they got a book full of regulations.

Some floks around here switched from calcum to soybean oil a few years back just to shed the Possum Police bullsnott, and it works just as good.

Another thing you want to look into is spreading the calcium dry, and following with a light watering. It works better that way, and if you can spread when dew is on the ground you can eliminate the wateribg.

 

[Taylortractornut]

Baffles are a must, atleast one anyway. I had an unbafled truck on one job and it broked the bed mounts and almost wrecked the cab. The next day it rolled over in a turn. THey arent too bad full its when it gets about half empty. MY brothers truck is all home built from scavenged parts. The tank was a fuel tanker like a oil company truck. He cut the boxes of it. Then had it mounted on his truck and I gave him an old pto pump off a 1 ton fire truck. Then he plumbed it all with 3 and 4 inch PVC pipe. He has a spray head on each corner and gravity bar on the back.


The spray heads are super simple and effective. He welded a flat cap on top of section of 3 or 4 inch exhaust tubing that was slotted on one partway up. Then he had a horizontal notch in the top under the flat cap. This is held on with muffler Ubolts. He can adjust it with a more open slot for a bigger higher volume heavy spray. Adjust it down to 1/4 inch slot for a longer lighter spray. I cant get a few pics in the next few days of of the heads.

Its a super handy thing to have around the place. Watering roads before grading, fire fighting, garden and tree watering.

 

[Duffster]

Baffles are a must, .

Milk trucks are unbaffled. They manage to keep them upright.

 

[777777]

Around here there is a lot of water haulage for potable water.

Best choice is always a used milk truck as it is stainless. Lotta competition to find used 1's.

Have also seen just the large poly barrels on the back of trucks that deliver water. Seem to work ok.

Good luck on the project.

 

[TractorRob]

Milk trucks are unbaffled. They manage to keep them upright.

I had never heard that before and was curious as to why milk trucks don't have baffles, so I did a google search on "milk truck baffles." Apparently they don't have baffles because it makes them harder to clean. I also noticed a lot of information on how milk trucks and other non-baffled trucks are more likely to be involved in roll-over accidents and how they are harder to drive than a baffled truck, even for commercial drivers.

 

[Duffster]

I had never heard that before and was curious as to why milk trucks don't have baffles, so I did a google search on "milk truck baffles." Apparently they don't have baffles because it makes them harder to clean. I also noticed a lot of information on how milk trucks and other non-baffled trucks are more likely to be involved in roll-over accidents and how they are harder to drive than a baffled truck, even for commercial drivers.

They are also driven on poorer roads than most trucks and in inclimate weather.

 

[captaincrab55]

I had never heard that before and was curious as to why milk trucks don't have baffles, so I did a google search on "milk truck baffles." Apparently they don't have baffles because it makes them harder to clean. I also noticed a lot of information on how milk trucks and other non-baffled trucks are more likely to be involved in roll-over accidents and how they are harder to drive than a baffled truck, even for commercial drivers.

Sounds like a Good Reason to steer clear of milk trucks... I have a Tanker Endorsement on my CDL ans I too wasn't aware that milk trucks didn't require baffled tanks...

 

[BHD]

I would suggest looking into an Ag sprayer, (used), some of the larger units are tanks of 1000 to 2000 gallons, and then what is know around our parts as a nurse tank, the tractor and the sprayer is basically stays where you need it and then the nurse "tank" truck does the running to keep the sprayer suppled, many around here use a flat bed with plastic tanks on it, some times up to about 4000 gallons some times more,
690 High Clearance Sprayer

(I would think you would be able to find one reasonable as you do not need a 100+ foot boom, and a lot of the features that one wants for field spraying,

the nice thing of this set up is water only is in the nurse tank, so more than one use on it, (no contamination in the tanks), the tractor is multi use, and the flat bed can be used for a number of things by unloading the tanks, and the flat bed is used to carry the "chemicals" as well, most just use a transfer pump to move the water, some of them tie all the tanks to gether to one pump,

some use semi tractors and low boy type trailers and some of the smaller farmers use, goose neck trailers and just there pickups,

or just get a road construction sprayer,
Road Construction Wetdown

 

[CharlieS]

Milk trucks are unbaffled. They manage to keep them upright.

This is true, but its more than milk trucks. All edible products tanks are unbaffled. Sanitation is the issue.

 

[TractorRob]

They are also driven on poorer roads than most trucks and in inclimate weather.

Doesn't change the fact that an unbaffled tanker is inherently less safe than a baffled tanker.

 

[Duffster]

This is true, but its more than milk trucks. All edible products tanks are unbaffled. Sanitation is the issue.

Very true.