All drinking water at Milkwood Farm comes from the sky. This means catchment and storage of drinking-quality water is a very big deal for us. And since we’ve got the opportunity to define the quality of our drinking water here (a luxury so many millions of people do not have), we’re determined to get it as healthy as we possibly can. Both for our family, and for this planet of ours.
Which led us to the seemingly mundane but actually quite complex task of selecting water tanks for drinking water. Which kind to go with? Plastic, aquaplate, cement or stainless steel?
Our criteria for selecting our drinking water tanks were thus; excellent water quality, relatively low embodied energy, and affordable. Which made our task of choosing trickier than we first thought.
But decide we did, and we thought we’d share the results of our research here in case they’re of use to others. This is not the final word on water tanks, but it’s the product of our 6 months of researching, talking and thinking about how to balance our criteria to give our farm the best drinking water system we can possibly devise:
A comparison of water tank materials for drinking water
Plastic tanks of all shapes and sizes. Image by Irrigation Direct.
PLASTIC WATER TANK
Materials: food-grade polyethylene, the same stuff used to make plastic food containers like tupperware etc, and considered the safest form of plastic. Has added UV stabilizers to prevent the plastic breaking down outside, and plastic softeners to make it flexible. BPA softeners may be used (i never could get a clear answer on that from any manufacturer).
Toxicity: At the drinking end, I have problems with this option. Plastic softeners like BPA are not what you want in your child’s tummy as the tank materials go though their inevitable off-gassing process. Softened plastics are also heavily associated with endocrine disruptors.
Also, being outside, these tanks break down over time, regardless of the UV stabilizers (couldn’t find any info on the UV stabiliser off-gassing qualities, either. Hmm). When a substance breaks down, that means it goes somewhere else. Like into the various cycles of our farm. Double hmm.
Enviro-cred: Plastics are, as I’m sure you know, made from oil – which isn’t that great. Their embodied energy during production is pretty high too. A lifetime of 25 years means they don’t live forever, and at the end of that time, due to the UV degradation, they’re not considered recyclable in Australia. At all. Which again ups their embodied energy. Transport to site is necessary, unless you live next to a plastic tank factory.
Installation: dead easy. All that’s required really is a stabilized flat spot. Because plastic tanks have a small amount of flex in them, they’re a bit more forgiving than other materials when it comes to installing. These types of tanks come in a wide range of sizes and shapes, which may aid installation.
Price: Plastic tanks are a cheap option, at around the $2,600 mark for a 22,500L tank. Delivery extra.
Our verdict: the toxicity and embodied energy didn’t make this option attractive at all, despite it’s price tag. Would potentially also melt in a bushfire, causing us to have no water. Not good.
Aquaplate® tank. Image by h2Enviro
CORRUGATED IRON WITH PLASTIC LINING WATER TANK
Materials: The modern version of the classic Aussie corrugated iron tank. Aquaplate® is the most common material used. Aquaplate® is corrugated steel on the outside with a spray-on plastic polymer lining. As far as we know, all corrugated steel tanks (except stainless steel) are now sold with this plastic lining, to prevent rust and to prolong the life of the tank.
Toxicity: The main issue with these tanks to me is the spray-on polymer that forms the plastic lining of the tank. Not much info could we find on the polymer plastic lining, except that it doesn’t need the UV stabilizers in it because it’s not exposed to sunshine. But any way you look at it, it’s spray on plastic, directly in contact with your drinking water.
Softened plastic in constant contact with drinking water is not my idea of a healthy time. Again, see links to BPA, endocrine disruptors or do your own research.
Enviro-cred: Not too bad. The steel production has a lot of embodied energy (about 2/3 of a plastic tank), but this can, in theory anyway, be offset by recycling the product at the end of its 25 years warranty. How they get the bonded plastic lining off to re-use the steel, no-one can tell me yet. So that sounds a little theoretical to me.
There’s also the possibility that the steel made to use the tank may be recycled already, which would be great, but not a given, so it’s hard to count on it. Again, transport to site is needed.
Installation: Fairly easy – you need a good solid flat pad to put it on, but it’s pretty much a case of plonking it down and hooking it up to a down pipe. These types of tanks come in a wide range of sizes and shapes, which may aid installation.
Price: Around $2,800 for 22,500L, depending on shape and location. Delivery extra.
Our verdict: better than plastic (at least on the embodied energy front) but too many questions about toxicity of the polymer lining for this to be an option.
A concrete tank on a farm somewhere. Image by Edwards Concrete Tanks
CONCRETE WATER TANK
There are two options for concrete tanks – up to 15,000L tanks can be cast off-site and delivered, or for larger tanks the only option is to make them on-site. As we’re talking in the 22,500L range, we only investigated the cast-onsite option.
Materials: Made of concrete with steel reinforcing. All concrete sold in Australia now contains fly ash, which is the scrapings from within the chimney of coal-burning furnaces. It makes concrete stronger. Concrete’s other components are sand, gravel, lime and water.
Toxicity: Not bad at all, as far as we can tell. Concrete tanks have historically been considered to produce superior quality drinking water because the great thermal mass of the tank provides a stable water temperature. This means less warm spots, and therefore less algal blooms. It is also often commented that concrete tank water has a nicer taste. This might be because of the various minerals leaching from the cement tank into the water. There are various reports about fly ash toxicity that made us wonder about it’s health effects when included in concrete, however.
Enviro-cred: Not so good. High embodied energy (about the same as a plastic tank for the same size). There’s also ethical questions about the sourcing of sand, as much sand mining happens in environmentally sensitive areas. Not recyclable, which means no chance of off-setting your guilt about the embodied energy. A well made concrete tank should last a very long time, however, which is a plus.
Installation: More complicated than a simple delivery. Requires a crew to come out, prep site and pour tank. Tank pad must be very well made and stable, or tank may crack. Some logistics to consider with access for concrete truck to tank site, weather, and so on.
Price: comparatively expensive – around $4,000 for a 22,500L tank installed.
Our verdict: better than the options containing plastics, but still some toxicity questions. The non-recycleability also made it hard to get excited about this option.
Unloading a stainless steel tank
STAINLESS STEEL WATER TANK
Exploring this option seemed a bit dumb, initially – surely it would be incredibly expensive and no-one made them anyway?
Materials: Stainless steel, which is iron with added chromium and/or nickel.
Toxicity: Stainless steel is considered to be very safe and preferable for many applications, hence its use in surgical equipment, catering, drink bottles and so on. As far as we could tell, if you don’t heat it up or ingest shavings of it, it’s pretty much inert.
Enviro-cred: High embodied energy in production, but 100% recyclable. Completely and utterly. Because of its high value, the chances of the stainless steel having had multiple lives previous to its incarnation as a water tank are also high. Should last a lifetime if we don’t back a truck into it, which ups its cred further.
Installation: relatively easy, with good solid pad prepared. Like plastic and aquaplate, a simple operation of delivery and placement.
Price: fairly expensive – around $4,000 (delivered) for 22,500L
Our verdict: expensive upfront, but when its all said and done, worth it. Very low toxicity means excellent and safe drinking water, and in 70 years time our grandchildren can use the steel for something else (or cash it in).
Whew. So that’s the wash-up. We ended up getting two 22,500L stainless steel tanks, which, when full, will assure our family of plenty of drinking water all year round, even in the 100-year drought. The tanks cost us $8,000 delivered from Stainless Steel Water Tanks in Brisbane, but there are now quite a few stainless tank suppliers Australia wide.
Catching and storing water, by any means necessary. Image by Friends of Water.
A note: we made our choice based on our site’s constraints, and our time and money budgets. If our rocky ground could have confidently harbored an in-ground concrete cistern without us spending $20,000 digging around for a subterranean boulder-free spot, we might have taken this option.
Also, the info above is not intended to make anyone feel inadequate or worried about their existing rainwater tanks, we just thought we’d share what we learned in the process of making our choice. Hooray for rainwater, in all its contained forms. And to anyone already catching and storing this energy.
A house made out of a concrete tank in South Australia
Some water tank resources:
- Life cycle analysis of plastic, aquaplate and concrete tanks by BlueScope Steel.
- Bisphenol A (BPA): the for and against. Canada has banned its use, with the EU set to follow.
- Oasis Design has some great resources on in-ground and above ground concrete cisterns.
- The Tankulator – an online rain harvesting calculator that can help you plan for a new rainwater tank or improve the performance of an existing tank
- Choice’s water tank review – not on drinking water specifically, but still very useful.
- A home made out of a concrete tank (ok so they are recyclable occasionally!)
Now all we need to do is build a big shed roof up the top of our hill to catch the rain, to put in our shiny new stainless steel water tanks, so it can flow passively down to all the future drinking water taps at Milkwood Farm…
Appreciate the analysis that you have put into this. Am not sure if you came across this link in your research: http://www.bluescopesteel.com.au/go/building-products/rainwater-harvesting/life-cycle-analysis-for-rainwater-tanks/rain-water-tanks-life-cycle-analysis Definitely worth getting this from the source 😉 From memory it is from quite a few years old now.. Embodied energy / Life Cycle Analysis is fraught. Conflicting methodologies and difficulty in establishing standards due to the range of variables etc. I agree with a precautionary approach that says avoid all products with toxicity.. A couple of other quick points: – It would also seem that high embodied energy materials such as stainless steel and aluminum are more… Read more »
Hey there – yep we reference that bluescope steel link in the article in the resources section… it’s a bit of a quagmire, isn’t it? Thanks for your thoughts 🙂
We came to the same conclusion when researching our water tanks about this time last year. We ended up getting a 3000L stainless steel tank for drinking & cooking water (with a single tap in the kitchen delivering this water) and two 24500L poly tanks for the rest of our water. The only thing we neglected to do was allow for gravity feed for this water tank – and as there was no way the water could get gravity fed, due to the design of the house and the location of the kitchen, we had to get an extra pump… Read more »
Thanks for the heads up re gravity feeding! And great idea to have a stainless steel for human consumption and then poly for other water needs. I was just thinking though, if you’re chickens are drinking this water and it has toxins in it due to the plastic it is contained in, would that not enter your food supply say thought the eggs? I’m wondering if we need to just have all stainless steel water storage?
Thanks for the posting. I find it very useful.
Cheers.
Zainil
I like colorful, plastic water tanks as they are easily to set up and moving from one place to another. The metal one is worst as it is heave and ugly.Thanks
How surprising, livingwise, since you sell plastic tanks! 😉
I love the idea of the stainless steel tanks, they are definately the ‘best’ option. Unfortunately so far we have only one plastic tank, but when we get the roof on the house I want to put stainless tanks on. I totally agree about gravity feeding the water, such a better way to do it.
A simple water filtration set up can remove 100% of all impurities at a small cost. We are required by council to have 100,000L of tank capacity so stainless was not an option at double the cost of aquaplate, so a high end water filter cleans our water very well. I would suggest a filtration system (pre drinking tap) is a good idea even with stainless tanks as there are all manner of impurities that can contaminate the water pre and post tank.
Thanks
Steve
Hi Steve – yes we’ll definitely be putting in a filtration device between the tanks and the taps – just in case. Stay tuned for more on that as we get closer to having some taps!
Very helpful post. Thank you! I was just wondering if you have decided with the filtration system for your taps for drinking water.
Thanks,
Pinar
Can I ask what filter for the house you chose?
Thanks heaps for the info – sounds like a filter even on the stainless steel is wort the investment
Interesting analysis. We have 164000 litres in plastic, about which I have few qualms, but note the comments you make about them. We were considering a concrete underground tank for a final fire-fighting resource (given the potential vulnerability of the plastics)but stainless steel seems like a good alternative given our ground conditions. Do you know if they can be buried entirely or partially for additional protection / thermal stability?
Hi Alan, well, given that stainless steel doesn’t rust, I suppose the tanks could be buried in theory… I’d ask a stainless steel tank manufacturer what they thought…
Love your website and this water tank study is very well done. I read the Earthbag one yesterday, also very good read. I am going to add your site to the bloglist on my own as your subject matter directly parallels what we espouse.
Thanks, Doug! your rural independent has some amazing stuff on it!
Thanks for taking the time to share your research on tanks. It’s a topic that is very important to me too – water quality is the foundation of our health, I reckon. In regard to concrete tanks, when I did some research into concrete, it seems that it can also have chemicals added (admixtures) depending on it’s application (please see link below – follow the list down to “Concrete” to read about all the possible chemicals that may be added). I didn’t manage to find out whether the concrete used to make water tanks would have any of these additives… Read more »
a most interesting comparison and thanks for your efforts. Just a few thoughts and corrections. 1) The lowest embodied energy by far is an old corrugated iron tank lined with mortar to patch the rust holes. This has all the benefits of the concrete tank, at much lower environmental cost and good long term durability. A good description of how to DIY appears in the Earth Garden Water Book (search for it on google). We have several of these tanks and water quality is exceptional. 2) fly ash is the fine ash residue left over after you burn (black) coal.… Read more »
Hi Peter – thanks for your comments! Good point about the renovated corrugated iron tanks – we did consider that early on but we thought our chances of finding two massive ones which would be suitable for repair would be slight… all the old corrugated iron tanks we’ve cone across have been in the 10-15,000L range…
Wow thank you so much for the info! So does that mean that the stainless steel tanks wouldn’t work so well underground as there is a risk of collapse due to the possible forces when empty? So now I’m thinking perhaps a concrete tank underground with a filter to remove any residue for the purposes for drinking? What do you think?
Depending on the intended use for your captured water, ie drinking, showering, flushing (perhaps consider composting toilet to alleviate the need to flush) another cost effective option to consider maybe a smaller stainless steel tank specifically for drinking water and then poly liner or plastic tanks for showering, flushing, garden watering etc.
Well done, those tanks look great and the shed makes a great catchment and will be very useful in the future too. I Agree that stainless steel tanks would have to be the safest but they weren’t really an option for our two 150,000L tanks so we had to go for the steel sided food grade plastic sheeting lined ones that are built on site. This is a option you did not explore in your article and I have some useful information for other readers who maybe considering these tanks due to the large volumes they can accommodate. While all… Read more »
Cheers, Simo – good info!
Does anyone have information on whether there would be harmful leaching into soil/plants of a vegetable garden if using a plastic tank?
Good question, Joanne – I’d love to know that too. I’m also wondering about the plastic irrigation fittings that you use to get the water from your tank – even if you go for a stainless steel tank – to the vegie garden or to your drinking glass. You can get “blue stripe” drinking quality 40mm pipe but what about the joiners, tee pieces and risers and all the other fittings? I think all the standard ones are polyethylene but I don’t know if they’d be EVA – the kind that Simo said would be safer. Has anyone thought about… Read more »
thanks for all the info, I thought I’d share this: http://earthbagplans.wordpress.com/2009/06/24/earthbag-cistern/
Nice one. Thanks, Sarah!
thanks for this site
steels sounds good
but?’
reading one site aboout steel
it says bluescope steel aquapalte with a polymer coating?
on the inside helps corrosion ?
do your tanks have this?
Hi Andriies, if you have another look at this article you’ll see we’ve clearly defined the differences between aquaplate and stainless steel. Two very different tank solutions…
Thanks for that. I am in the market for tanks and I know that the water from plastic ones (even food grade) taste like utter poison.
Great research! We have a metal tank (probably lined with plastic unfortunately) and our copper pipes are corroding. It shows up as a green residue in our sinks. Have you come across this in your research? The only explanation I could find is that rain is a bit acid and corrodes the pipes. The fact that it is soft water make the pipes corrode as well. Apparently concrete tanks don’t get this problem as the lime from the concrete slowly leaches and neutralises the water. Would be interested to know if anyone else has experienced this and what they’ve done… Read more »
Hi Kirsten, outstanding review. Thank you, you will for sure save a lot of people, a lot of time. We were looking at some “food grade plastic” poly tanks thinking they would be the safest solution until we recently have been researching more into BPA so that option was out. Thankfully we came across your site and you had done all the hard work already, much appreciated ! A few questions for anyone whom cares to read them, is there anything much cheaper out there than $4200 for a 22,600 (or thereabouts) Stainless steel tank ? If you know any… Read more »
I know I’m coming in very late to this conversation (just started researching tanks for our new house and someone has done the work for me!) but I was wondering if you did find a less toxic option for the PVC downpipes?
No we didn’t find a cost effective alternative, but as the water is not stored there and only passes thru we figured it was a minimal problem….
Hello there, Just thought I’d share my experience…in 2007 Black Saturday tore through our area and everyone’s water tanks performed in different ways. Plastic and metal buckled in the heat and ALL water therein was lost. We have 3 x 5,000 GALLON/22,500 litre? concrete tanks on our property – all amazingly survived the fire…HOWEVER, they are now failing and developing huge cracks from bottom to top and we are losing our precious water. It is thought that the intense heat had comprimised the integrity of the tank by superheating the reinforcing mesh in the tank walls. We are now facing… Read more »
Hi Sue, bloody hell – thanks heaps for giving us your perspective on this! Hard won knowledge. My only immediate thought would be either cut out a door and use them as fire-proof storage (not for humans, but for other stuff you dont want melted), or repair them (this may be contrary to other advice, but I’ve heard many stories of folks jumping inside concrete tanks and executing DIY repair jobs which worked, the Earth Garden building book outlines a couple of examples from memory)… best of luck 🙂
Dear Sue,
I think you should seek better advice on the liability of the insurer. Superheated reinforcement sounds like a cop out. The concrete would protect the steel from superheating, and no matter how good the tank was before the fires with such intense fires the concrete would be damaged. Surely the failure was caused by the fire, and thats why you are insured. Don’t give up on getting what they owe you, after all, you paid for the insurance premium. Even if you need one tank short term, keep fighting to get the others replaced.
What about Fibreglass?
In short, we couldnt find any suppliers so it wasn’t on our list of options?
I know this is a long shot, but does anyone here know of a way to get a stainless steel tank freighted across to WA? No one here sells them, and the Stainless Steel Water Tanks guys will sell us one but don’t do interstate delivery. All the freight companies I’ve spoken to won’t touch the job because the 22600L tank is 3.5m in diameter, which is too big for their standard trucks.
Hmm, have you asked Ross Mars at http://www.greywaterreuse.com.au/ ? He’s Perth based, and would know if anyone would…
Hi Danielle,
nice to see you going with the stainless option. you could try getting a quote from a towing company. sounds a bit weird, i know, however they do a lot of transporting of shipping containers, machinery, etc on their flat bed trucks and I personally know of them moving water tanks in the Brisbane region. I think it would be advisable to try and organise a backload for their return trip, could potentially half the cost.
Blue Skies
Phil
Have you found anyone yet, Colin from Northern territory Tank makers may help. He delivers all over the place, we recommend you buy Aquaplate tanks with the barrier as opposed to stainless steel. Are your tanks rivited ?
Colin is looking at building Aquaplate Tanks in the NT soon.
I tried Ross Mars, and he said he doesnt think anyone will be able to/willing to help me with freighting tanks over. I’m talking to some fabricators here to see how much they’ll charge to make me a stainless steel tank. Thanks Phil, I may try calling up some towing companies to see what they say. Good idea 🙂 Neil, do you have a URL or some contact details for Northern Territory Tanks? Google doesn’t have the answers for me. I don’t know that anyone in NT would be any more willing to freight tanks to Perth than east coast… Read more »
hi dannielle, im in the same boat as you, i was wondering if you had gotten any quotes for WA based fabricators yet? i would be really interested to know. cheers
if you had wanted a stainless tank there are quiet a few available old tanks from dairy supply factories quiet cheap
just the freight
hi Kevin – we’re just at the stage of sourcing a stainless tank for drinking water and would be very interested in the old dairy tanks – how do we find out more or who can we contact? We’re in Central West NSW.
PS Thanks for posting this Kirsten, it is great info and very opportune!
Good luck!
Great Article – thanks so much! We are investigating a small drinking water setup (trying to avoid the fluoride & chlorine) for our home and your research has really saved me some time. Cheers!
no worries 🙂
Hi I contacted a local tank manufacturer here in SA he said he had considered making SS tanks but researched and thinks that the grade of SS used to make corro tanks will be prone to corrosion and decided not to. He said to look for ex dairy/wine vats or stick with the cheaper heavy duty galv. The nearest supplier – of stainless tanks otherwise. – found by Darren Doherty is in Rochester Vic . Whaddya think?
Yep we have friends that have done the dairy vats and they’re great, we couldn’t find any at the time. Heaps in vic tho..
litres =$ / vats aren’t very good value best to use stainless for drinking water and large capacity use a plastic lines tank or large concrete for shower and wash water easy to split pluming these days
i built 45,000litre tanks for $2500>
Yes that’s what we’re talking about. – 2nd hand ss vats for drinking water. In our climate we need 44kl storage just in case for drought years…
Thanks for this independent analysis of rainwater tank types. I came to a similar conclusion, however, living in Adelaide it appears that stainless steel tanks are difficult to come by here??? You mentioned many more suppliers now, which ones have you found?
In terms of the PVC pipes, do you have a wet system? Wouldn’t the water be sitting in the pipes then? It seems that we can’t get away from one form of plastic or another, is mains water any better, you can’t see the pipes so you don’t worry about them…
Hi Gabs, i have wondrously found a bloke who hand makes gorgeous pottery water storage vessels that can be up to 1000 l -inspired by a Rudolf Steiner round design to keep the water moving and alive… and hand made from local clay, fired onsite in his studio in the city. Mark Heidenrich. Terra Villa pottery – right opposite Bliss cafe in Compton st near the central markets. At $1500, its all good. We will have a rain chain running into it from the gutter – no pvc. From the earth, supports local artisan, a thing of beauty that will… Read more »
Hi Nicole, how do I look you up?
Lol I think in my mind one would google 🙂
Facebook is good – or email nicnik at internode.on.net 🙂
Wow Nicole, That sounds amazing! I had a dream once of a fabulous system of water transfer from all natural materials. I hope one day to be able to build it.
Good article…
What grade is the stainless used to manufacture these tanks? I couldn’t find the info on the manufacturers website.
Concrete not recyclable? They last a long time, so perhaps many haven’t expired yet. Have seen some with doors cut in them and converted for other uses. Have also demolished some, where the concrete went to the recyclers for use in roadbase etc…
Re quality – we are using the recycled dairy vats and the quality of the s
tainless is amazing – my husband reckons better than 316 – really heavy duty. You can find them on ebay….
Hi Alex, I had a quick look on ebay for dairy vats and found nothing 🙁 Do you have a link or something? Thanks!
email address for the supplier we used for milk vats: [email protected]
Thank you!
The Tas Government has issued a warning relating to lead leaching into water from an incorrect solder used in manufacturing stainless steel tanks. The warning only relates to one maufacturer. It may be difficult to check the solder when buying a tank but worth considering and asking about. Here is the link:
http://www.dhhs.tas.gov.au/peh/alerts/past_public_health_alerts/public_health_warning_-_stainless_steel_water_tanks
Yep, one very stupid manufacturer in Kingston Tasmania. No other instances of this happening in Australia have been recorded, thankfully 🙂
Hi Kristen,
I came across this article recently whilst researching for my University thesis project which is looking at a new, alternative concrete tank material. Since my project looks into comparisons between tank materials in terms of durability, cost, health concerns, embodied energy, etc. I was just wondering if you could confirm how you came across the cost of each particular tank…were they based on quotes you received?
Any info would greatly appreciated,
Sally
Hey Sally, er this was quite a while back now but yep they were based on our ringaround quotes at the time…
I was loving the idea of not having a plastic tank but just stumbled across this worrying health alert. Hopefully your tanks do not use this solder.
http://www.dhhs.tas.gov.au/peh/alerts/past_public_health_alerts/public_health_warning_-_stainless_steel_water_tanks
Nope, there was only one (not very intelligent) tank company in Tasmania that used that solder. All the other stainless steel tank manufacturers I’ve spoken to were a bit aghast at that example!
Hi! My family has been suffering rashes and itchy skin. I recently accelerated this when I took a powerful liver/parasite cleanse. Turns out that our combination plastic/fibreglass tank has burdened our livers and large intestines with whatever it puts in the water. (Diagnosed through kinesiologist muscle testing) So we are not drinking it now and am also thinking I don’t want to bathe in it either! Also wondering if it is ok to water the veges?! Thanks for your article.
your veggies certainly won’t take up any fiberglass fibres in their roots. Personally I would leave the water in there, stop using it, and ensure (by deduction) that water was the source of your probs before re-assigning it from drinking water to veggie gardening water.
Hi Kirsten
Thank you for the website and the research, which has not been superseded anywhere I can find. I wonder if you have any thoughts about polyurethane tanks for vegetable garden watering, implicitly the question of soil biodegradability of the polyurethane contaminants. Also, the standard stock trough these days is the poly trough, any thoughts?
Peter
Well, there’s probably degrees of contamination possible, but unless you’re going to lay clay or metal pipes and water from the tap with animal intestine hose, there will be plastic in the system…
In short, we’d use poly tanks to water food plants, yep 🙂
Hi Kirsten
I was just wondering how your tank is going? We purchased a stainless steel tank 5 years ago. It has now failed in two spots of the seal (where floor meets wall) and before we could get it repaired the leaking water buckled all the flooring – rendering it useless. The tank cleaner/repairer said that he has seen the same in a number of these tanks.
Would love to hear of any similar issues.
oh bugger – ours are still going great – sounds like a faulty tank to me, sorry to hear about your disaster! I suppose the welding needs to be extra strong on a stainless tank as there’s no liner – what brand was it?
We purchased it from Select in QLD. Now looking at other options as can not justify expense if the seals only last 5 years.
Where did you get yours from?
Hmm. Same company as you, and have not heard before of anyone having a problem with an SS tank – would you consider ringing them up and having a chat? I think they would like to hear from you, and it might work out in your favor…
Hi Kirsten,
Thanks for putting up all your research -much appreciated.
And thanks also to the person who suggested a small stainless tank for drinking only.
john b
A good friend installed 2 stainless steel tanks recently and had problems from one of them regarding water taste.It looks like there was some leaching from the sealant on the tank join.Stainless steel is great but there may still be other materials in the manufacturing process that may be of concern.
The following method covers the procedure for disinfecting the tank and where appropriate the associated down services. Whether or not the down services are to be disinfected will depend on the clients wishes and whether it is practical e.g. it will not be possible to disinfect the down services in a hotel which is in constant use. The standard requires the maintenance of either 50 ppm of Chlorine for at least 1 hour or 20 ppm for at least 2 hours.
Industrial Storage Tank | Plastic Storage Tank
Stainless steel tanks how much does it cost?
Hi Lorenzo, it cost us $9.5k for the two 25,000 Litre tanks
After reading this post a few months ago I decided to purchase two Stainless Steel Tank 304 Round (3100 H x 3200 Dia) 24,932Ltrs tanks … sadly I forgot to notice that they were 3100 high and they are too tall! I’m hoping someone looking for some large stainless tanks might be interested in taking them off my hands at a discount. We got them from Ecobright tanks in Victoria and they are beauties. We live in between Orange and Dubbo. If anyone is interested 0409245505. We will be getting the next size down from the same supplier as we… Read more »
sorry to hear that!
Great info. Make sure you get your stainless steel tanks from a reputable supplier though. I had a friend in Tassie who had done loads of research and came to the same conclusion that stainless steel was best, but the manufacturer had used a led based solder and she and her new born baby ended up with dangerously high led levels in their blood. That manufacturer has know gone bankrupt and gone out of business. But it is something to be aware of.
yes, but that was one dodgy supplier (who seals drinking water vessels with lead?) – apparently no other AU ss tank suppliers have ever used that, and yes, i did call up them all and ask 🙂
This is great as I have been going through the same process… I was just wondering if you looked at the Galvanised tanks with the polypropylene liner? This sounds different from my reading, compared with the plastic spray on liner you refer to above. Would love to hear your view on this.
Thanks
Tracey
yes we saw those, but again, it’s a plastic tank liner, Not something we want to store our drinking water in if we have a choice, long term.
Awesome… Thank you for the reply.
Just wondering if you by chance did a similar investigation on what sewerage management system to use? Would love to hear your thoughts on this.
Thanks
well, we were using simple but effective waterless compost toiled systems at the farm, so we didn’t 🙂 – https://www.milkwood.net/category/humanure-nutrient-cycling/
Thanks for your article. Where did you find out about the embodied energy of each tank? Cheers!
Hi Kirsten , what about steel tanks without plastic lining? Any thoughts? We gave one and unsure if we should get rid of it or not…
Most tanks in Australia use that type of lined metal tanks. I think they pair well with a small stainless tank for drinking water use only, then you can use the water in the plastic-lined tanks for showering and washing.
hi, is PVC tank good for human use??
It would not be my first choice.
Hello – I’m looking into some stainless steel tanks and wondered how yours were holding up? Have you had any issues? It’s still quite difficult to source ss tanks here in Adelaide so I’ll have to freight them in from VIC…
Lily we’re not on that property anymore but last I saw them, the stainless tanks were absolutely fine 🙂 – we have friends who have some about the same age, also absolutely fine. Oh and the drinking water tanks at Melliodora, which are 30+ years old stainless steel tanks, are also in great condition. If you install them well there’s not much that can go wrong with them for many, many decades.
Thanks so much for the info! Just what I needed 🙂 Just wondering, have you read anything on keeping the stainless steel tanks underground? I thought this would help keep the temperature stable but also clear up more land for growing things. Any thoughts?
Most tanks sold in Australia are not designed to be buried, they are lightweight and only designed to have the pressure of the water pushing outwards evenly. Tanks that are built to be put underground have to be much stronger, usually precast concrete or sometimes very solid plastic.
Hello…
How about water tank made by fiberglass , this is same like plastic?
regards