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Large Capacity Water Storage Tanks, Selection & Usage Guide
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This article describes the use of extra or large water tanks to store additional water at properties with intermittent or limited water supply from a low-flow-rate well or intermittent municipal water supply.
Green links show where you are. © Copyright 2013 InspectAPedia.com, All Rights Reserved. Author Daniel Friedman.
LARGE WATER TANKS - Large Water Storage Tanks, Why They Are Used, What They Imply about Well Recovery Rate or Well Yield
The large indoor water storage tank shown at page top was contributed by reader Craig Revill and was found in a home that was 80-100 years old. We calculated the water tank volume at about 450 gallons.
What does it mean if you see a huge water storage tank at a property? Can we use additional water storage tanks to overcome a well that has a very slow recovery rate or a poor well flow rate? Yes we can, with some warnings.
Very large water storage tanks, such as the one whose end is visible in these photographs from two different properties, are likely to
indicate that the flow rate of the well serving the property is very slow, even inadequate by contemporary standards.
We've found these old steel tanks at older properties in the Northeastern U.S. in situations where the well flow rate, the
rate in gallons per minute at which the well can give water over a sustained period, to be very low, perhaps around
one gallon per minute or less. Very low well flow or well water delivery rates in the 2.5 gpm range or below, simply
can't keep up with the rate of water usage in a building during normal occupancy.
Large water tanks may indicate that the well flow rate can't keep up with demand
Worse, if we have only a typical water tank installed, say a 30 or 40-gallon unit, that tank is designed
to smooth the flow of delivery of water to the building as the pump is turned on and off.
A small water
tank is not sized to actually store a reservoir of water for the building. So if our well flow rate is
very low, the building will simply run out of water and occupants will have to wait, perhaps hours, for
the pump to re-fill the water tank.
Multiple smaller water tanks may also mean that the well flow rate is poor
 A more modern solution to poor well flow rate is to install a cascade of two or more individual water pressure tanks in order to provide a larger volume of water stored at a property.
A low flow rate well and pump may rely on "recovery" overnight or over many hours
So a common solution for a low-flow-rate well is the installation of a very large water reservoir.
At older properties the single water tank may have been 1000 gallons or even more.
With a large water
tank or multiple water tanks installed to provide this water storage reservoir, the well flow rate can be terrible but the
building occupants won't see its effect since they're working off of the water storage tank.
At a low-flow-rate well installation the pump will be designed to run at a slow pumping rate
so that the well water flow-rate can keep up with the pump as the pump sends water to the water
storage tank. The building occupants use water out of the tank and the tank and well and pump recover their water slowly, perhaps overnight.
Low flow rate wells or slow recovery rate wells at modern properties use a cascade of water tanks
At newer properties this same approach may be taken to "solve" a low-flow well but instead of a
single huge steel tank such as the one in this photograph, the plumber will install a series or cascade
of from two to perhaps four or five smaller water storage tanks of perhaps 50 gallons each. If you
are looking at a property and see that it has five new shiny blue and pretty big water tanks
lined up in the basement you can guess that the well is marginal in its delivery capacity.
Low flow rate slow recovery rate wells have a questionable future life expectancy
A final warning about low-flow rate wells: because in many areas water is flowing into the well
through cracks in rock below the surface, and because we're starting with an already low recovery
rate well, the future ability of the well to give water at all must be questioned. If local water
is heavy in minerals, for example, the minerals tend to clog up those rock cracks over time,
gradually reducing the water flow-rate into the well still further, until eventually it just stops working.
So a very large water storage capacity at a property is an indicator of both a low-flow-rate
well (poor well recovery rate means the same thing), and an indicator that the future usability of the well at all must be questioned. We explain how people determine the necessary water tank size and volume at WATER TANK SIZE & VOLUME .
OPEN WATER TANKS - gravity fed water systems or pump-up rooftop systems with and without pressure-boosting pumps and water tanks
Rooftop Water Tanks or Free-standing Water Tanks at Ground Level
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Rooftop water tanks in urban areas such as New York City may be used to supply water at high pressure to the
building below.
Water is pumped to the rooftop tank from its municipal source, then
redistributed at good pressure to the points of use in the building below.
When passing through
New York City, look at rooftops and you'll often see these tanks still in use. This sketch shows how
a rooftop tank might be constructed, though this particular sketch has the tank next to a well.
See details at CISTERNS.
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Readers should also see PLASTIC CONTAINERS, TANKS, TYPES where we describe health and other concerns involving plastic tanks and other containers used for water storage.
See also see PLASTIC CONTAINERS, TANKS, TYPES and Water pump and pressure tank repair diagnosis & cost an specific case which offers an example of diagnosis of loss of water pressure, loss of water, and analyzes the actual repair cost. See Wells, Cisterns, & Springs for a discussion of types of drinking
water sources and what goes wrong with water supplies.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
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Technical Reviewers & References
Related Topics, found near the top of this page suggest articles closely related to this one.
 Carson, Dunlop & Associates Ltd., 120 Carlton Street Suite 407, Toronto ON M5A 4K2. (416) 964-9415 1-800-268-7070 info@carsondunlop.com. The firm provides professional home inspection services & home inspection education & publications. Alan Carson is a past president of ASHI, the American Society of Home Inspectors. Thanks to Alan Carson and Bob Dunlop, for permission for InspectAPedia to use text excerpts from The Home Reference Book & illustrations from The Illustrated Home. Carson Dunlop Associates' provides:
- Commercial Building Inspection Courses - protocol ASTM Standard E 2018-08 for Property Condition Assessments
- Home Inspection Education Courses including home study & live classes at eleven colleges & universities.
- Home Inspection Education Home Study Courses - ASHI@Home Training 10-course program.
Special Offer: Carson Dunlop Associates offers InspectAPedia readers in the U.S.A. a 5% discount on these courses: Enter INSPECTAHITP in the order payment page "Promo/Redemption" space. InspectAPedia.com editor Daniel Friedman is a contributing author.
- The Home Reference Book, a reference & inspection report product for building owners & inspectors.
Special Offer: For a 10% discount on any number of copies of the Home Reference Book purchased as a single order. Enter INSPECTAHRB in the order payment page "Promo/Redemption" space. InspectAPedia.com editor Daniel Friedman is a contributing author.
- The Home Reference eBook, an electronic version for PCs, the iPad, iPhone, & Android smart phones.
Special Offer: For a 5% discount on any number of copies of the Home Reference eBook purchased as a single order. Enter inspectaehrb in the order payment page "Promo/Redemption" space.
- The Illustrated Home illustrates construction details and building components, a reference for owners & inspectors.
Special Offer: For a 5% discount on any number of copies of the Illustrated Home purchased as a single order Enter INSPECTAILL in the order payment page "Promo/Redemption" space.
- The Horizon Software System manages business operations,scheduling, & inspection report writing using Carson Dunlop's knowledge base & color images. The Horizon system runs on always-available cloud-based software for office computers, laptops, tablets, iPad, Android, & other smartphones.
- Amtrol - AMTROL, Inc.,
Corporate Office,
1400 Division Road,
West Warwick, R.I. 02893
Tel: (401) 884-6300
Fax: (401) 884-4773 The company's website is at www.amtrol.com; also see Amtrol's installation and instruction manual for their Well-X-Trol water pressure control tank, a PDF file
- Water Storage: Tanks, Cisterns, Aquifers, and Ponds for Domestic Supply, Fire and Emergency Use--Includes How to Make Ferrocement Water Tanks, Art Ludwig, Oasis Design (May 30, 2005), ISBN-10: 0964343363, ISBN-13: 978-0964343368, Quoting:
A do-it-yourself guide to designing, building, and maintaining water tanks, cisterns and ponds, and sustainably managing groundwater storage. It will help you with your independent water system, fire protection, and disaster preparedness, at low cost and using principles of ecological design. Includes building instructions for several styles of ferro cement water tanks.
- Thanks to aerospace engineer Herman Vogel, July 2010,
for providing an update on High Density Polyethylene HDPE storage tanks for water, chemicals, waste oils, etc.
- Access Water Energy, PO Box 2061, Moorabbin, VIC 3189, Australia, Tel: 1300 797 758, email: sales@accesswater.com.au Moorabbin Office: Kingston Trade Centre, 100 Cochranes Rd, Moorabbin, VIC 3189
Australian supplier of: Greywater systems, Solar power to grid packages, Edwards solar systems, Vulcan compact solar systems, water & solar system pumps & controls, and a wide rage of above ground & under ground water storage tanks: concrete, steel, plastic, modular, and bladder storage tanks.
- Life Expectancy of Wells & Water Tanks how long should a water well and its components last?
- Shock or Chlorinate a Well, How to - Procedure for Shocking a Well to (temporarily or maybe longer) "Correct" Bacterial Contamination
- Smart Tank, Installation Instructions, Flexcon Industries, 300 Pond St., Randolph MA 02368, www.flexconind.com, Tel: 800-527-0030 - web search 07/24/2010, original source: http://www.flexconind.com/pdf/st_install.pdf [Copy on file as /water/Smart_Tank_Flexcon.pdf ] -
- Typical Shallow Well One Line Jet Pump Installation, Grove Electric, G&G Electric & Plumbing, 1900 NE 78th St., Suite 101, Vancouver WA 98665 www.grovelectric.com - web search -7/15/2010 original source: http://www.groverelectric.com/howto/38_Typical%20Jet%20Pump%20Installation.pdf, [Copy on file as /water/Jet_Pump_Grove_Elect_Jet_Pumps_1.pdf ] -
- Typical Deep Well Two Line Jet Pump Installation, Grove Electric, G&G Electric & Plumbing, 1900 NE 78th St., Suite 101, Vancouver WA 98665 www.grovelectric.com - web search -7/15/2010 original source: http://www.groverelectric.com/howto/38_Typical%20Jet%20Pump%20Installation.pdf, [Copy on file as /water/Jet_Pump_Grove_Elect.pdf ] -
Cooperative Extension, School of Forest Resources, web search 07/24/2010, original source: http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/FreePubs/pdfs/XH0002.pdf
- Water pressure tanks - how to diagnose the need for air, how to add air, stop water pump short cycling to avoid damage - water storage water pressure tank safety.
- Water pump and pressure tank repair diagnosis & cost an specific case offers an example of diagnosis of loss of water pressure, loss of water, and analyzes the actual repair cost
- Water pressure tank failures & water pump short cycling diagnosis and repair
Books & Articles on Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair
- Our recommended books about building & mechanical systems design, inspection, problem diagnosis, and repair, and about indoor environment and IAQ testing, diagnosis, and cleanup are at the InspectAPedia Bookstore. Also see our Book Reviews - InspectAPedia.
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