How would you guys do this

[1930]

I bought a 275 gallon IBC 275 Gallon IBC Storage Tank Tote - farm & garden - by owner - sale tote this weekend for use on my remote property as a storage container. ( water )

Ill have to bring the water in....no big deal and no choice at this point, no electric and no well yet. Generator gives me power.

I want to fill it with water that I can feed into my camper for showers, also so that I can pressure wash my tractor ect with my gas power washer....all sorts of uses for water.

My question....should I mount it in top of my 40 ft storage container and let gravity feed the water and if so how would you suggest I fill it from the ground level?

On top of the roof I could use the sun to warm the water, a nice feature for taking showers although I do have a water heater in my camper that sucks the propane.

Should I keep it at ground level for convenience of filling?

What would you guys do and why? Thanks

I almost forgot, the container stored wine, reeks of alcohol, I rinsed before I left the sellers home but did no good, I need to get rid of that smell.

What can you suggest?

 

[quicksandfarmer]

I would suggest bleach to get rid of the smell, then it will smell like a swimming pool instead.

Is the tank light-proof? If not, if you put it in the sun it will grow algae. Is it UV-proof? If not, the sun will break it down. Spray paint would probably solve both problems. You'd also have to worry about bacteria growth, particularly if the tank is in the sun. Chlorinating the water might be a good idea.

If you put the tank 10' off the ground you'll get about 5 psi. Depending on how you use it that may or may not be enough. If you have a generator you can run a pump for when you need more pressure.

You'll need a transfer pump to fill the tank even if it's at ground level, that much water at just gravity will take forever. I'd plumb it up so that the same pump can be used to fill the tank or provide pressurized water by opening and closing valves.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

How are you going to refill it (meaning do you have another tank you will be transporting water in to the site?) You can get a 2" gas water pump from HF for a couple hundred. It would definately pump water up there. 275 gal would take about 10-12 minutes to fill.

 

[SPYDERLK]

Spray rinse with vinegar then lemon juice.

 

[pmsmechanic]

Subscribed

 

[1930]

Spray rinse with vinegar then lemon juice.

Can you be more specific on details? Im not gettin it

 

[Turbys_1700]

Look for a small 12V pump off eBay or Amazon to fill it. If you have a close by water source you are good to go. If you don't have a close water supply you will need to transport it to your destination and then pump into the container.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=12V+dc+water+pump&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_udlo=35

 

[1930]

I have good enough water a couple miles away, I have several 5 gallon containers to transfer the water.

If I leave the tote on the ground filling it won't be an issue.

I go through very little water usually so keeping it filled won't be an issue.

I guess a lot of my question is once the tank is filled what do I need in between the tank and a garden hose for example to build any kind of pressure?

I know my well at my home has a pump down deep in the ground but I don't understand how there's pressure in my system in the house, does that pump also provide that pressure?

I have a pressure washer with a pump on it, I'm assuming that sort of pump is needed to run a garden hose?

I'm also needing suggestions on how to keep the water somewhat clean that is going to be inside the tank so that I can shower with it.

I don't want algae growing in there.

Maybe just a little bleach in there every once in awhile would do the trick?

 

[mrmikey]

I guess a lot of my question is once the tank is filled what do I need in between the tank and a garden hose for example to build any kind of pressure?

If you want to use a generator, go for something like this 115V Pony Pump | Princess Auto tp pressurize your system. You'll have to remember to turn it off and on when you want to use it unless you want to get into pressure tanks and switches.

I know my well at my home has a pump down deep in the ground but I don't understand how there's pressure in my system in the house, does that pump also provide that pressure?

Yes it does, the pressure tank is to prevent the pump from cycling on and off all the time by providing a volume of air that compresses and keeps the pressure more or less constant ±20lbs or so. Reason you need air is that you can't compress a liquid.

I have a pressure washer with a pump on it, I'm assuming that sort of pump is needed to run a garden hose?

Nope, that's a high pressure low volume piston pump. Your well pump as well as the pump I gave a link to is a centrifugal pump

I'm also needing suggestions on how to keep the water somewhat clean that is going to be inside the tank so that I can shower with it.

As was said, a bit of bleach and someway to keep direct sunlight off the tank would help. If it sits for any amount of time in the heat, algae will be a problem..........Mike

 

[1930]

If you want to use a generator, go for something like this 115V Pony Pump | Princess Auto tp pressurize your system. You'll have to remember to turn it off and on when you want to use it unless you want to get into pressure tanks and switches.

Yes it does, the pressure tank is to prevent the pump from cycling on and off all the time by providing a volume of air that compresses and keeps the pressure more or less constant ±20lbs or so. Reason you need air is that you can't compress a liquid.

Nope, that's a high pressure low volume piston pump. Your well pump as well as the pump I gave a link to is a centrifugal pump

As was said, a bit of bleach and someway to keep direct sunlight off the tank would help. If it sits for any amount of time in the heat, algae will be a problem..........Mike

Excellent response, thanks for clarification

 

[shooterdon]

A little 12v RV pump will do the job. Hook it up to a battery with a solar charger. No need to start up the generator.

My buddy has a similar set up and plumbed it into his RV pump system.

 

[1930]

A little 12v RV pump will do the job. Hook it up to a battery with a solar charger. No need to start up the generator.

My buddy has a similar set up and plumbed it into his RV pump system.

I have a new one inside my camper, maybe I need a larger one, water pressure is just ok, I think it would be bad running through a 50ft garden hose

 

[Egon]

Bury the tank & use an on demand pump system.

Hauling water in 5 gal buckets may get old fast so consider mounting the tank on a trailer.

 

[rScotty]

I guess a lot of my question is once the tank is filled what do I need in between the tank and a garden hose for example to build any kind of pressure?

I know my well at my home has a pump down deep in the ground but I don't understand how there's pressure in my system in the house, does that pump also provide that pressure?

I have a pressure washer with a pump on it, I'm assuming that sort of pump is needed to run a garden hose?

I'm also needing suggestions on how to keep the water somewhat clean that is going to be inside the tank so that I can shower with it.

I don't want algae growing in there.

Maybe just a little bleach in there every once in awhile would do the trick?

It sounds like you have your water storage worked out, Now you need a source of pressurized water to feed to your camper and to things like garden hoses and your gas-powered high pressure washer.
That's simple; I've done it several times. You need a pressure tank, a pump, and a controller that only runs the pump as needed to pressurize the water in the tank.

The pressure tank is easiest - it's just a steel tank with an air-inflated rubber bladder inside. The pump forces water into the tank where it is stored under pressure. 50 PSI is about all you can expect to get. As you use water, the pressure drops quickly and the controller causes the pump comes on to pressurize more water into the tank.

I'd suggest you start with as big a tank as you find affordable - a 20 gallon at Home Depot is about $140. That's a common size for small houses.

Then you need a pump to transfer water from your storage tank to the pressure tank. This is the hard part. You want a pump that will run quietly, and will put out 50 psi and flow at least 10 gallons/minute. You'll want to compare several. Take a look at the pump curve if the spec shows that. Basically you will find that at 110 volts, that much flow at that much pressure will take about 3/4 hp or larger. Larger is better if your generator can handle the pump load.

The problem is that these transfer pumps are noisy and expensive. Once you drill a well, you can use a well pump - although they are even more expensive. But I've noticed that submersible well pumps can often be found used, and are easily rebuilt. Really good quality pumps, and so next time I do what you are doing I think I'll simply see if I can somehow use the smallest size submersible well pump. It ought to work by either putting it right into the storage tank if there is an access port on top.... or else by feeding some sort of intermediate 50 gallon barrel tank between the big storage tank and my pressure tank and putting the well pump in there.

The last thing you need is a pressure switch to switch the electricity on/off to the pump as required. This is the easy part. It's a $20 well switch and they typically come set to turn on their internal relay at 20 psi and off at 40 psi - but get the kind with an adjustable psi range. It simply mounts to the top of the pressure tank.

Most people fill the tank with water and then add a little bleach. You may or may not care to do that. Some algae and bacteria may be preferable. The percentage of bleach is VERY important - you can find the percentage online dozens of places. The keyword is "shock chlorination". Many people with shallow wells do this shock chlorination with bleach several times a year to keep bacteria down. THe problem here is that you have a plastic storage tank. It is handles alcohol, It should be OK with low levels of chlorine but chlorine as in bleach will eventually degrade many things. Believe it or not, a common municiple alternative to chlorination is to filter the water through a sand bed with lots of bacteria (and maybe even some algae) and let those benign critters eat up the more hazardous organics. No chlorination required!
Yet another alternative is to get a $200 pressure driven Reverse Osmosis setup (Home Depot again) and use that for your drinking water. RO wastes about 3x as much water as it filters, but if you turn it off after it makes a couple gallons for drinking, it isn't too inefficient.
good luck,
rScotty

BTW, did you figure out how much PSI that a tank of water 40 feet up would develop? What do you think??

 

[1930]

Excellent, thanks very much

 

[Citydude]

How many gallons per minute does your pressure washer need? I would have that number in hand before sinking a lot of money into pumps, pressure tanks and switches. The portable RV pump you have might provide the GPM's you need to run the washer. All pressure washers have a specific GPM to operate them. It should state the GPM requirements on your washer.

 

[s219]

Yeah, if you don't feed a pressure washer with appropriate GPM input, it won't work well and you'll ruin the pump. They need a certain inflow to run properly. They cannot pull from unpressurized static water.

 

[jaydee325]

We have a 275 gallon tank the OP is planning on filling and keep filled with 5 gallon containers. That seems to me to be a non-starter!

As suggested, putting the tank on a trailer is an option, but at approximately 8 lbs per gallon, a full 275 gallon tank weighs 2200 lbs.

My pressure washer is rated at 2.5 gpm. So, that 275 gallon tank completely full will provide about 1.8 hours of washing.

For RV use, 275 gallons will last a long time. But combine this to the other uses discussed, it looks like a lot of water transport is in the future!

 

[1930]

Very little use, I just want the reliability of having it when needed

 

[SPYDERLK]

Spray rinse with vinegar then lemon juice.

Can you be more specific on details? Im not gettin it

These acids will lift the residue on the tank interior that causes the smell to linger. Since it is a large tank you cant just fill with vinegar and let soak. So you need an arrangement that lets you rinse the interior repeatedly using just a gallon or so of vinegar; automatically re using the rinseings.

. . . A spray wand continuously re supplied from the rinse solution in the bottom of the tank is the kind of setup you need.