moving large plastic water tanks

[dfkrug]

It seems that for those of us in the boonies, you can never have too many
water tanks. The plastic ones, made of cross-linked polyethylene (PEX) or
linear polyethylene, are the most economical, but how do you transport them?

When you buy them new, the seller delivers them and rolls them into position
on your pad or foundation. Not too difficult since a 2500 gallon unit may
weigh only 400#, plus or minus. But what if you buy one used and need to
pick it up? How do you lift these tanks up onto your pickup truck or trailer?

This one is a white PEX unit and is about 8 feet in diameter and a bit less
than 8' in height. (Most of them sold around here are black or dark green to
reduce algae growth.) Tipping it on its side and rolling it was easy for the
3 people used in this move....we had to go about 100 feet and around a
bunch of trees and other items. I then used my Kioti fiixed forklift to lift
the tank and roll it onto the trailer. It was quite a ballancing job as my forks
are only 36" and the back rest is maybe 30". I DID use a piece of plywood
on the fork tines to avoid puncturing the soft plastic with the forks.

When all loaded on the trailer, we strapped it down snug. In the 25 miles of
driving on curvy mountain roads, the straps had to be adjusted a few times
as they tended to collapse the plastic.

 

[sandman2234]

As far as loading it, could you just back the trailer up to it, and tip it over into the trailer rather than transporting it with the tractor? When I first saw the picture, my thoughts were you were going to transport water with it, and I knew that single axle tractor wasn't going to do the job, lol.
David from jax

 

[Kays Supply]

How do these PEX tanks hold up in the sun? My PEX pipe says not to expose to UV rays.

 

[dfkrug]

As far as loading it, could you just back the trailer up to it, and tip it over into the trailer rather than transporting it with the tractor?

I was hoping the guy with the Dodge PU was going to get a flatbed trailer
with low deck so we could tip it up onto it. The tank could then be carried
upright. From our experience tipping it on its side, I know we would still
want help lifting it onto the back of the trailer. The forklift could have
provided that last little lift/push in that case.

This tank was shaded by trees; many other around here (usually black
in color) are not. I don't know how UV-tolerant they are, but the white
one needs to be painted IMO. If the manufacturer says keep it out of the
sun, you should. I would if I bought a new one for $1000!

 

[LBrown59]

As far as loading it, could you just back the trailer up to it, and tip it over into the trailer rather than transporting it with the tractor?

***** When I first saw the picture, my thoughts were you were going to transport water with it
David from jax

***** I thought he was going to set it up to store fuel in for his tractor .

 

[dfkrug]

***** I thought he was going to set it up to store fuel in for his tractor .

That would be about 40 years supply for me!

 

[sandman2234]

That would be about 40 years supply for me!

And a 100 year mortgage on your home...
David from jax

 

[3RRL]

Dave, great story there.
I don't know if you remember or not, but early on in my Log Home thread I posted a bunch of photos when I picked up my 5,000 gal tank and set it up on a concrete pad at the homesite. It is about 10' in diameter and about 10' tall weighing in just under 1,000 pounds empty. That thread is HERE Starting on Post #218.

I went to the tank yard where they had hundreds of them in stock. It was Plasticorp, I think in Hanford about 60 miles away from me. Your should have seen the fork lift operator whip that thing up and dump it onto my trailer. He did it all in less than a minute! Getting it home I had to re-adjust the straps several times too and I only drove about 45mph max. Once I got it home, I ended up using a Gradeall fork lift, which the contractor had sitting at the homesite.

 

[dfkrug]

Dave, great story there.
I don't know if you remember or not, but early on in my Log Home thread I posted a bunch of photos when I picked up my 5,000 gal tank and set it up on a concrete pad at the homesite. It is about 10' in diameter and about 10' tall weighing in just under 1,000 pounds empty.

I DO remember your tank purchase, Rob. I did a TBN search for tank threads
just before I did this, but I only searched titles. Your house build thread is
SO long now! Anyway, your link helped me go back and re-read the tank
part. I see that you only strapped vertically. Eek! I knew we would get
some rearward shift if I did not strap if forward also. Around here we have
bumpy and steep roads that can do all sorts of nasty things to your load.
Can you imagine loading a 1000 lb tank that big w/o a forlift? I have heard of
a number of guys moving the 5000 gal plastic tanks around once they are
delivered, by rolling them on their sides. Never did it myself.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Are the plastic tanks that much less than the good metal ones?

 

[3RRL]

I DO remember your tank purchase, Rob. I did a TBN search for tank threads
just before I did this, but I only searched titles. Your house build thread is
SO long now! Anyway, your link helped me go back and re-read the tank
part. I see that you only strapped vertically. Eek! I knew we would get
some rearward shift if I did not strap if forward also. Around here we have
bumpy and steep roads that can do all sorts of nasty things to your load.
Can you imagine loading a 1000 lb tank that big w/o a forlift? I have heard of
a number of guys moving the 5000 gal plastic tanks around once they are
delivered, by rolling them on their sides. Never did it myself.

I see that you only strapped vertically. Eek!
Yes, eek is right. If you saw the photos, you may have noticed when I strapped down at the yard there were only 2 yellow straps with red ones going over the yellow, but when I arrived at camp they were spread apart.. That is because like you said, eek, it started to slide backwards on the highway. I was very luck to notice a strap that was not taut in the rear view mirror so I pulled over. The tank had shifted back all the way against the tailgate ... I had not thought of placing it that way because I wanted to center the load ... wrong. I under estimated the wind force.
So once it was all the way against the tailgate, I spaced the (red) rope straps around it equally and it held very firm the rest of the way home. The best part about the story was making that giant tourniquet so we could position and turn the darn thing. It was BIG.
As far as Brian's question, I never priced a metal tank because my well guy told me to get the plastic one.

 

[dfkrug]

Are the plastic tanks that much less than the good metal ones?

They were significantly less back when I priced them AND a steel tank will
eventually rust inside. The steel ones are very heavy, too. I ended up
buying neither and going w/ concrete.

 

[RedDirt]

They were significantly less back when I priced them AND a steel tank will
eventually rust inside. The steel ones are very heavy, too. I ended up
buying neither and going w/ concrete.

dfkrug
Your earlier post said the tiedown straps would collapse the tank sides. What if you were to place three or four 2x4 - 2x6 under the straps that were longer than the tank? Then the hold-down force would be applied to the round ends and not on the collapsible middle.

Have you posted regarding building your concrete tank? I am interested in how you built it. Above ground or buried? Slab floor with solid concrete walls (double formed?) or CMU? Did you use any additional waterproofing like Thuroseal? Is the lid concrete?

Has anyone build a ferro cement tank?

 

[MtnViewRanch]

They were significantly less back when I priced them AND a steel tank will
eventually rust inside. The steel ones are very heavy, too. I ended up
buying neither and going w/ concrete.

Well, I will agree that they will rust sometime, but they can be had where they are lined on the inside and I believe that those actually end up rusting from the outside and not the inside. If I remember correctly, the expected life time is very ,very long. My 10,500 gallon tank is made of 16 gauge corrugated metal and is very old. They don't build them like that anymore. But even it is coming to the end of it's life span.

 

[dfkrug]

Your earlier post said the tiedown straps would collapse the tank sides. What if you were to place three or four 2x4 - 2x6 under the straps that were longer than the tank? Then the hold-down force would be applied to the round ends and not on the collapsible middle.

Have you posted regarding building your concrete tank? I am interested in how you built it. Above ground or buried? Slab floor with solid concrete walls (double formed?) or CMU? Did you use any additional waterproofing like Thuroseal? Is the lid concrete?

I think that doing something like you describe could work. You would have
to do something to hold the 2x4s in place. It is not obvious at all that the
plastic will buckle when you first cinch the straps down. The pressure is
spread over the length of the straps and the plastic does not seem like it
would buckle. If you can make sure the straps stay put just over the top
part and the bottom part of the tank, then maybe it would not buckle there.

As for the concrete tank, I did post about it and it has made the rounds on
an old ICF website. Here it is just before the pour. Floor, walls, and top
were poured monolithicly with about 7cy of concrete pumped thru 500' of
hose and an elevation of 150 feet. I did the structural design and
calculations, based on guidelines from an ACI paper on cylindrical concrete
tanks.

As for steel tanks, I talked to Salinas Tank, a Norcal manufr, and I used the
same asphaltic sealant they use on their tanks. Not all sealants are safe
for drinking water.

 

[RedDirt]

Wow, dfkrug, that concrete tank is a very impressive project (read lots of work!). A bit more involved than I had hoped...think I'll stick with researching a plastic tank. But....there's always a but....

A friend used to install an unusual septic tank They used dry stack CMU blocks and then coated the interior with a fibered cement product. Since they were underground I believe the earth backfill contributed greatly to the support and did not require heavy reinforcing or engineering. They were bone fide county approved/inspected projects. I'll check with him and inquire more, like are they 100% watertight.

 

[dfkrug]

RED, you might also consider pre-cast concrete septic tanks. They are
waterproofed with an asphaltic mastic and do not HAVE to be buried.
Some have removable tops, which are cast separately.

I have 2 1500-gal septic tanks installed under ground.

My interest in an above ground water tank for domestic water was driven
by the difficulty of getting a pre-built plastic tank to that location, and
I wanted it to resist large falling trees and branches. It has already
sustained hits from 6-inch thick branches falling from 125+ foot douglas
fir trees. Of course, fire resisitance was important, too.