[rocshaman]

They do make tank heaters but of course you have to have juice to run them. If your water is constantly flowing, the tank's not going to freeze up unless you get extended extreme cold. The water flow itself will keep it open. Do you have two wells? One for the manual pump and one for the mill?

[orangello]

Maybe you could cover the tank in black paint for the winter warmth & cover it with a white sheet in the summer?

Also, would it make more pressure to have more than one line coming down from the tank, maybe join one from each leg that doesn't have to be foldable together into a single line to the house?

(not a plumber, but i like laying pipe)

[Shade]

Originally Posted by purehavoc

How many gallon talk are you talking about storing ? I work in the farm chem industry right here in Central IL and we use large plastic and stainless tanks around here to store water in . We even keep a large SS 5500 gal tank of water on hand all the time even in the winter , will it freeze ? maybe but not solid . We have a large cone bottom plastic tank 3000 gal I think thats on a stand if you would like me to shoot u a pic of it for you I would be more than glad to do it . That may help in your design .

I was thinkin the tank would be relatively small 250-500 gallons to make
the tower taller and lighter. I estimate I will use 250 gallons a day in the
summer for watering the garden and livestock. House use will be relatively
small. A cone bottom would be awesome I have never seen a cone bottom
poly tank before. Do they make them 500 gallonish?

Originally Posted by rocshaman

They do make tank heaters but of course you have to have juice to run them. If your water is constantly flowing, the tank's not going to freeze up unless you get extended extreme cold. The water flow itself will keep it open. Do you have two wells? One for the manual pump and one for the mill?

Not so worried about the tank freezing as the line up to it and down from it.
The water will not be moving most of the time.

[hiwall]

The problem is not the tank freezing but the lines, the op knows that and has a plan. orangello- its all about gravity, extra lines won't really help with more pressure. If the op gets 20 psi he should be fine. in the situation he's talking about most people really will be the unwashed masses Most people never think about water until they have none.

[Shade]

Originally Posted by orangello

Maybe you could cover the tank in black paint for the winter warmth & cover it with a white sheet in the summer?

Not a bad idea but the lines are the problem up and down the tower. No
heat.

Originally Posted by orangello

Also, would it make more pressure to have more than one line coming down from the tank, maybe join one from each leg that doesn't have to be foldable together into a single line to the house?

Height is what makes the pressure. I plan on running large enough diameter
lines that even when flowing the pressure loss due to friction will be minimal.

Originally Posted by orangello

(not a plumber, but i like laying pipe)

Don't we all.

[Shade]

Wow, btw, did not expect this much traffic on this topic. Very happy with
the activity.

[rocshaman]

When I was growing up we lived on a farm that wasn't on rural water yet and had a cistern system. We had to haul water from town to fill the cistern, but the original owners of the place put in a pretty unique system for collecting water for the cistern. They had a windmill set up with a tank beside it. The water outlet was set up high to fill the tank and had pipe, with dual valves, that could fill the cistern or run water directly out of it for filling whatever. It also had one of those cistern pumps that used cups on a chain to bring the water up. I know this doesn't help with your question, but I thought you might find it interesting. A cistern might not be a bad idea though, especially for winter use. You could locate it right next to your house and put a hand pump on it there.

[purehavoc]

Originally Posted by Shade

I was thinkin the tank would be relatively small 250-500 gallons to make
the tower taller and lighter. I estimate I will use 250 gallons a day in the
summer for watering the garden and livestock. House use will be relatively
small. A cone bottom would be awesome I have never seen a cone bottom
poly tank before. Do they make them 500 gallonish?


Not so worried about the tank freezing as the line up to it and down from it.
The water will not be moving most of the time.

Yes we have 3000 gal cone bottoms , I believe they make them from 500 gal on up to 5000 gal
We use this to put rinse water from our wash out pits in .
I would think with this type of setup you could even make it work in the winter if you had the ability of circing the water in the tank thru a wood burner or wood furnace , it would naturally recirculate its self by heating the water , with a 500-750 gal tank that will give you a easy source for warm water , keeps the water in the tank from freezing and it would keep your inlet and outlet water pipes from freezing , shouldnt need a pump at all but with the inlet and outlet like its positioned on that tank its a easy source to recirc the water

[Shade]

Originally Posted by rocshaman

When I was growing up we lived on a farm that wasn't on rural water yet and had a cistern system. We had to haul water from town to fill the cistern, but the original owners of the place put in a pretty unique system for collecting water for the cistern. They had a windmill set up with a tank beside it. The water outlet was set up high to fill the tank and had pipe, with dual valves, that could fill the cistern or run water directly out of it for filling whatever. It also had one of those cistern pumps that used cups on a chain to bring the water up. I know this doesn't help with your question, but I thought you might find it interesting. A cistern might not be a bad idea though, especially for winter use. You could locate it right next to your house and put a hand pump on it there.

On a normal year, our water table is only 3 feet below grade.
Try to put in an inground pool or tank is difficult because they
have a tendency to want to float in the hole. With has dry as
this summer has been my static well height is still only 8 feet
down.

[Ploofy]

I came here to offer that Water Towers are made for water pressure, not necessarily storage, but damn. Somebody has done their math.