View Single Post
Old 07-14-12, 03:25 PM   #5
bennelson
Home-Wrecker
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: SE Wisconsin
Posts: 546
Thanks: 3
Thanked 165 Times in 96 Posts
Default

Well, I did a little experimenting today...and took lots of photos!



The container that I got comes wrapped in cardboard (which unfortunately will not hold up to weather, so it has to be removed) and glued down to a pallet. I transported it home in the back of my pickup, the trailer was just a convenient place to set it down to work on it.

The container has a 2" ball valve, but that doesn't do me much good, as I need to connect it to a garden hose. I went to the hardware store and got the adapters, reducers, and pipe nipple needed to get it down to a brass garden hose spigot. It was about $7.50 for those components. Then I just needed to PVC cement them together and add teflon tape and thread the rest of the components.




Stripping off the cardboard isn't real easy - it's very thick stuff, and there's three layers. A little time with a razor knife was needed.

The empty box was good for containing small children. Er, um, I mean, it made a great playhouse for the little girl to play in. My wife was calling it the "Redneck Pack and Play".


With the pallet and cardboard removed, I was able to wash out the inside of the container. It was still SOOOO sticky from the corn-syrup residue.



The container does feature a 6" fill opening on the top and matching cap. There's also a 2" cap for the drain port. The large top opening makes it pretty easy to wash out inside and should be great for directing rain-water into the tank.



I wanted to get a sense of the water pressure I could get from a simple gravity-fed system. Although I don't yet have a good rack for the tank, I thought I'd try elevating it. I had several sturdy barrels, and set the pallet on top of those, and the tank on top of that. (Kids, don't try this at home!)



With the container on top, I installed the 2" to garden hose adapter I built.



I then filled the tank from the top with some water from my garden hose and well pump.

My garden is over 50' away (I have a long, narrow, property) and it's a little up-hill as well. With the ball valve and spigot open, the hose connected to water tank started putting out water. When I would lower the hose to ground height, the flow was a little less than what I would have gotten from my regular spigot. If I raised the hose any, the flow would drop off until, at waist-height, there was no flow.

That was sort of part of the idea. I liked the concept of having a gravity-fed water supply where I could just "turn the water on and off" by how I held the hose.

When I took the hose back the opposite direction, to water some plants near the house (and just a little down-hill) I had very good water flow - almost as much as I would have had from my spigot.

So, in terms of a first pass and experiment, here's what I noticed:

1) That tank holds a LOT of water! I did quite a bit of watering, and I could hardly see the water line go down at all.

2) Water pressure isn't what it would be from my household well pump and pressure tank, but it was still very usable, and didn't require any electricity.

3) With the tank 36" off the ground, the top of the tank is over 6' high - I can't see the cap to put the hose in there or screw the lid back on!

4) The rack to elevate the tank will need to be very sturdy. Water weighs somewhere around 8lbs/gallon. The full tank will weigh over a ton. I'll need to make sure the rack is well-build and level.

I think the next thing to do is build the rack. That will take a little time, and maybe a bit of cost for materials.

I also need to get a section of gutter, as my garage has NO gutters on it right now!

Lastly, I've heard from some folks that a translucent container like this should be covered or painted to prevent sunlight from causing algae to grow in it. I'm not planning on painting it right away. I think I'll just let it sit out and see if it's a problem or not. It's on the north side of the garage and may or may not need it. If I do paint it, I'll probably use a white spray paint designed for use on plastic, and mask off a vertical stripe so that I still have a "sight-tube" to easily see how full the tank is.
__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.


To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Last edited by bennelson; 07-14-12 at 11:28 PM.. Reason: because I can't NOT edit! typos
bennelson is offline   Reply With Quote
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to bennelson For This Useful Post:
Daox (07-15-12), Servicetech (04-12-14)