Pre-fab storage tanks

[muncybob]

For those of us that cannot fit a propane tank into their basement there are pre-fab tanks out there. The one on Tarm's website looks nice but it's very pricey. More reasonable to my wallet is the ones made by Revision Energy (www.revisionenergy.com). According to their site I could have a complete 650 gallon kit for $2200 plus coils of $425 each...so total of $3100 or so plus shipping with 2 coils. Could save some $$ by going with their "simple kit" so I'm not sure if the complete kit is worth the extra expense? I believe(although I cannot remember who) that somebody here has one of their storage tanks??? Looking for experience with this product.....and, am somewhat concerned that they state the liner is good to 175 degrees. I see a lot of people talk about 180* and higher....is this a concern with these tanks?

 

[tom in maine]

www.americansolartechnics.com

My apologies for the self-promotion!
LOL,
Tom

 

[DaveBP]

A year ago, when I was still planning to go homemade tank and EPDM liner for storage I did a bit of research on liner materials. EPDM is cheap and convenient but like so many other things these days an awful lot of EPDM is coming from China and India. It's not always labeled so you can tell for sure. EPDM is easily adulterated with any number of cheap fillers. I ran into one product that was 25%(or more if my memory serves) ground limestone and still was called EPDM.

I started to look into Polypropylene and other more expensive polymers that promised to hold up better to the high temps. I started to get in over my head (I dropped out of university chemistry) just about the time I ran into some local propane tanks and decided to go pressurized.

But if I were to go unpressurized/liner, I would have second and third thoughts about EPDM when there are better alternatives. I would try building my own tank to fit a stock size liner of better material rather than have a custom liner made. I'm sure it would cost more than EPDM, but cheaper than buying a whole tank assembly prebuilt. It's probably a personal preference but I'm getting tired of fixing and rebuilding stuff I cheaped out on a few years ago.

P.S. I started this reply this morning.Coming in from mowing and refreshing this thread before submitting I see my post is a good intro to Tom's link. He might be a good one to ask about better tank liners and how much more they cost than EPDM. I don't know if he can supply a liner for a customer-built tank. It might be a risky situation to warrantee your liner in someone else's tank.

 

[WoodNotOil]

Firestone EPDM pond liners is the material most tanks use. These are fairly durable and have been in use for ponds for quite some time and also used in heat storage tanks for many years. Real world data shows that you should not go over 175* with them and that they need to be replaced roughly every 8-10 years. Check out the link in my sig for the tank I built. I would say you could easily beat their tank price by building yourself with the same materials. Polyiso is even available at most home centers. Don't hesitate using a tank built with these materials. Yes a propane tank will last a lot longer, but you have already said it is not an option. Wasn't for me either, at least right now. Maybe I will have room for one in 10 years when my liner goes?....

 

[pybyr]

Polyiso is even available at most home centers. Don't hesitate using a tank built with these materials.

Polyiso insulation board can sometimes be sourced on very favorable terms from roofers who do large amounts of commercial work. Sometimes new sheets are damaged in transit, and the damage is enough that they cannot use them on a normal job, and yet part or all of the sheet may still be OK for your purposes. Or there are situations where the existing polyiso boards are pulled and replaced during a re-roof (such as when someone is trying to increase R-value on a commercial roof), and then you may be able to get secondhand but OK polyiso for a fraction of new cost (or, as in my case, completely free because a roofer suddenly had more used foamboard than storage space to put it in).

 

[DaveBP]

Firestone EPDM pond liners is the material most tanks use.

Firestone may indeed make the best quality EPDM and that is something people ought to know. My caveat was more directed to those DIYers for whom low price is fundamental. Ebay bargains are a prime source of material for many. EPDM is a reasonable compromise for a difficult design problem but it is a very broadly defined material. You really need to know what you have. The Firestone label may be the only way a consumer can have any confidence in the contents of that heavy box the UPS guy just dropped off with a grunt.

My biggest roadblock to finding a source of something like fiber reinforced polypropylene was a that they tend to want to sell in units like acres, not sq.ft.

 

[flyingcow]

For those of us that cannot fit a propane tank into their basement there are pre-fab tanks out there. The one on Tarm's website looks nice but it's very pricey. More reasonable to my wallet is the ones made by Revision Energy (www.revisionenergy.com). According to their site I could have a complete 650 gallon kit for $2200 plus coils of $425 each...so total of $3100 or so plus shipping with 2 coils. Could save some $$ by going with their "simple kit" so I'm not sure if the complete kit is worth the extra expense? I believe(although I cannot remember who) that somebody here has one of their storage tanks??? Looking for experience with this product.....and, am somewhat concerned that they state the liner is good to 175 degrees. I see a lot of people talk about 180* and higher....is this a concern with these tanks?

As I have proven a few times here and a lot at home, I did not understand what your question was( mainly because I am numb beyond belief).


Pertaining to who has one of these tanks? Did you mean the revisions energy or the one on Tarms website? I have the one on Tarms website. Like it a lot, the coils are really impressive. For my set up, it's nice being able to drive the tank temp up to 180 and not worry about shortening the life of the liner. Insulated really well.

 

[muncybob]

Well, looking for input from anybody who has either tank. My installer has quoted me over $6k for the Tarm unit whch may be cost prohibitive...but as I have learned in life cheaper may actually be more expensive in the long run. Real life experience with these tanks is what I am looking for as it appears I may not be able to go my preferred route of propane tanks.

 

[flyingcow]

I'm assuming you're putting in a Tarm boiler?

Also, I made a post when I first fired up my unit. I'll see if i can find it and bump it back to the top. Probably won't be much use to you, but it shows what the system did upon start up. I'm also finding, that i can let my tank get down to around 105/108/110 degrees and still have decent shower water. Next time I get the tank down I'll write it down. I have a temp gauge in my DHW line.


I don't know how this compares to other systems, like STSS, or Revisions coils.