Thread: House Water Tank

Can anyone tell me about water tanks that I see up on a house sized tower? Namely:
1. What size tank for a small family?
2. Cost of that approximate size?
3. Recommended tower height?
4. Cost of tower?
5. In a village about an hour outside of Roi Et, can I have clean water trucked in to fill the tank from time to time? Not for drinking but good enough for cooking, cleaning, bathing and washing clothes.

Any help appreciated.

P.S. Thanks Roobarb.

^ my pleasure

Unfortunately I know sod all about water tanks though...

why not put tank in the ground, get a filter and a water dump.

I just looked at a 1000 litre tank mate, plenty big enough for you about 3.450 bht ,,, 300hp pump to fire it in about 4500bht

Originally Posted by Yasojack

why not put tank in the ground, get a filter and a water dump.

Ok, but that won't give me gravity pressure for the ground floor taps. I'd have to hook up an on-demand pump, I guess? What do you mean by water dump though? The village water and the well water are really really bad. I'd like to have a water truck come when called. Do you know if that's possible?

Our water tank is 500 litres, less than 2,000 baht. It's fine. Missus got it off the web.

We got a 200 hp Hitachi pump for about 5,000 baht.

Just a rental place, so we didn't go crazy, but works fine...

Very similar to Nige.

Originally Posted by nigelandjan

300hp pump

Originally Posted by Bettyboo

200 hp Hitachi pump

Surely, you jest...300 and 200 hp pumps?... Talk about arse blasters...

I had an under ground water tank dug using concrete rings, the water is much cooler that when we had an above ground stainless steel tank.

The best thing I did was to have a bore hole drilled so no more deliveries or bills.

Originally Posted by Kurgen

I had an under ground water tank dug using concrete rings, the water is much cooler that when we had an above ground stainless steel tank.

The best thing I did was to have a bore hole drilled so no more deliveries or bills.

I have a deep well on the property. Total depth was ~40 meters where they should have set the screen but forgot. No matter as the filter catches any sand that comes up which isn't much. Excellent water and cold. Moo ban water is cheap here. Runs maybe 120 baht a month.

I check mine regularly and drain and clean it every couple of years.

Usually two people in our boonies house and we have a plastic 2000litre tank ( 7k bt?)filled from wells/ pumps. Have domestic on demand pump also ...think about 8k bt 9 years ago.
2000ltre lasts about 4 days with two people but when rellies here about 2days.
Have put rocks in toilet cistern tanks to reduce water volume by about 30%.

Drink rain water collected in a big bowl outside... dumped via coffee filter into water cooler bottle..lol

A tower, while initially expensive what with construction, tank and fill pump ( unless moo truck has facility) may be the way to go knowing power outage frequency here.

Where does the water truck fill up?..if it is just town water maybe worth getting it piped in to fill your tank. Blue pipe is cheap as chips and easy to lay and join?
Of course you will then need an in tank float valve, like your toilet cistern ,to maintain tank level.

Originally Posted by thailazer

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

Originally Posted by Kurgen

I had an under ground water tank dug using concrete rings, the water is much cooler that when we had an above ground stainless steel tank.

The best thing I did was to have a bore hole drilled so no more deliveries or bills.

I have a deep well on the property. Total depth was ~40 meters where they should have set the screen but forgot. No matter as the filter catches any sand that comes up which isn't much. Excellent water and cold. Moo ban water is cheap here. Runs maybe 120 baht a month.

Water tanks are good if you have a limited water supply from the public system and have to bunker it to have enough. If you have your own well, there is really no reason to have a tank, and eliminating the tank reduces complexity greatly and also eliminates tank contamination by bacteria or shrimp. I've seen what grows in those tanks.

That's a valid point re separate deep well pump eliminating the need for second pump although the on-demand pump uses less electricity to run + the bother with valve line-ups involved in the deep well manifold. The SS tank gets cleaned out every two years or so - the moo water comes in suprisingly clean w/out a need for a filter on the intake side. I do have a UV filter arrangement in the house with a three-element attachment but they don't require cleaning but every 3 months if that.

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

Originally Posted by Kurgen

I had an under ground water tank dug using concrete rings, the water is much cooler that when we had an above ground stainless steel tank.

The best thing I did was to have a bore hole drilled so no more deliveries or bills.

I have a deep well on the property. Total depth was ~40 meters where they should have set the screen but forgot. No matter as the filter catches any sand that comes up which isn't much. Excellent water and cold. Moo ban water is cheap here. Runs maybe 120 baht a month.

I'm thinking of drilling a well at our new place. Other than filtering for sand, is your well water safe to drink without UV treatment?

Thanks,
Steve

Originally Posted by stevefarang

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

Originally Posted by Kurgen

I had an under ground water tank dug using concrete rings, the water is much cooler that when we had an above ground stainless steel tank.

The best thing I did was to have a bore hole drilled so no more deliveries or bills.

I have a deep well on the property. Total depth was ~40 meters where they should have set the screen but forgot. No matter as the filter catches any sand that comes up which isn't much. Excellent water and cold. Moo ban water is cheap here. Runs maybe 120 baht a month.

I'm thinking of drilling a well at our new place. Other than filtering for sand, is your well water safe to drink without UV treatment?

Thanks,
Steve

The deep well water is completely safe to drink as well as the Moo water although I installed a filter on the tap water in one sink in the house but the taste is almost exactly the same.

Apart from being ugly and potentially dangerous, your tower needs to be about 4 stories tall to give you decent pressure.
A 1 or 2000 liter tank filled with potable water isn't going to last long if you use it for washing and bathing. It will be expensive to run in the long term.
Your best bet is a tank, on demand pump and a reverse osmosis filter, they can be had for 10 to 20k nowdays.

Originally Posted by stevefarang

Other than filtering for sand, is your well water safe to drink without UV treatment?

I guess my water is pretty clean as I only live about 100 meters from the reservoir. Even so I get water delivered for drinking and cooking. Saying that, I do brush my teeth straight from the tap.

Originally Posted by Necron99

Apart from being ugly and potentially dangerous, your tower needs to be about 4 stories tall to give you decent pressure.

Seconded.

Our neighbour has just put one up which is a total eyesore and, more importantly, could fall right through our bedroom roof.

Thanks for the peace of mind and thoughtfulness, dear neighbour...

Originally Posted by Thai Dan

In a village about an hour outside of Roi Et

Careful, well water in Roiet generally has high salinity. I would go with village water.

Bring village water into a filter, then to tank with an on demand pump feeding house from tank. Water in village I live in has some sediment and a nasty smell. I use a single stage carbon activated filter, 1200 litre underground tank and a Mitsubishi WP305Q3 pump (about 7k baht). Haven't checked current prices for all bits but all available at Global House Roiet.

The HYFLO pumps in Big C cost only about 3,000 Baht. Suck a lot of air though, must be vented frequently. Mine run dry eventually all night and went kaput. The Hitachi that was in the house when I rented it, no idea how much it was, broke as well, but was repaired for 1,200 Baht and is back in service. Ants build a nest in the pressure switch and it stopped working, but it was no problem to clean them out. You should put a plastic tank underground to keep the water cool, or at least in the shade. UV light destroys plastic within ten years or so. Steel looks better and doesn't rust, but there are all sorts of corrosive substances in the environment, shit of animals, acid rain, and they can spring leaks in no time. You should install 2,000 litres at least, the small tank trucks have this capacity and you pay them for coming, not volume. I pay 200 Baht in Pattaya.

Wow, lots of ideas. Keep em coming please and, when I have time away from the current emergency (septic setup, need I say more?) I'll go through all of your excellent inputs and make some decisions. Thank you all!

Originally Posted by stevefarang

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

Originally Posted by Kurgen

I had an under ground water tank dug using concrete rings, the water is much cooler that when we had an above ground stainless steel tank.

The best thing I did was to have a bore hole drilled so no more deliveries or bills.

I have a deep well on the property. Total depth was ~40 meters where they should have set the screen but forgot. No matter as the filter catches any sand that comes up which isn't much. Excellent water and cold. Moo ban water is cheap here. Runs maybe 120 baht a month.

I'm thinking of drilling a well at our new place. Other than filtering for sand, is your well water safe to drink without UV treatment?

Thanks,
Steve

If you live in a farming area and plan to drink your well water, it's important to have your well water tested for pesticides. Thai farmers use a lot of atrazine (for one example) that does not break down and ends up contaminating wells. This is a significant problem in the USA where the usage levels are restricted. No restrictions here. We found the testing so expensive we just decided to use bottled water for drinking and cooking.

Thanks everyone. I think we are going to drop a deep well, get a tank with float mechanism inside and put it on the ground in the shade of a large carport we have, pump from the well to the tank and have an on-demand pump to take the water into the house. The local teacher's house has this setup as well and they say it is alway full and cleaner than any other source.