Rainwater tank in bushfire area?

[Pollyanna]

What is the best sort of rainwater tank to have in an area prone to bushfires? Or the options I should consider?

Thanks

[bricks]

If you ring / visit your local CFS they should be able to help you.

Otherwise you'll need to know a few things to roughly acheive some sort of protection.

I only do City based fire protection and have no experience with bush systems ( so i'm only having an educated guess)

What do you want to hook up to the tank for fighting fires.

Sprinklers - good because you can run away from the fire while the sprinklers do the job for you


Hose- bad because you are at the house when the fire hits.

Hose equals 10 litres per minute.

Sprinklers about .5 litres per minute per sprinkler

Calculate how many litres per minute you need and then how many minutes you'll need to fight the fire, Ask CFS for this as in the city we go by 20mins for fire truck to rock up as max fighting time.

This will give you the size of the tank

You could go metal tank, but I'm not sure about poly tanks, Poly tanks might be alright- ask the manufacturers, they should know how long their unit lasts in a fire. Keep in mind that even a metal tank will deform so much as to be unusable after a severe enough fire. While a poly tank that is full will probably last the same amount of time as a full metal tank due to the heat transfering to the water inside.

Hope ive answered a few questions, ask more if you need , cheers and good luck.

[Eli]

I'm going to take a wild stab and say reo concrete with banked earth first, followed by corro steel, with plastic coming way dead last. I could be way off, I've neither owned nor installed one. It is in my near future though, moving to Upwey......

[bricks]

The only concern I have with concrete is that it explodes when heated? I did think of this, but then I can't remember seeing a concrete tank used for this purpose. Still, ask the cfs.

[watson]

Last two house fires around here had plastic tanks.....slumped & melted.......emptied so the cfa couldn't use the water.

[woodbe]

I asked the question when I was buying a tank, and the answer was that all tanks take damage that renders them replaceable after a major fire, apart from in-ground concrete tanks.

During the fire though, even poly hangs in pretty well. You can boil water in a plastic bag over an open fire...

Ask the CFS is good advice...

woodbe.

[watson]

Agree,
Maybe more relevant is tank placement rather than type.
Both local house fires had the tanks against the house.

[Eli]

Explode? Maybe, but I'd (with no scientific proof mind you) put a concrete tank up against a plastic or metal one any day. I wouldn't think it would explode before a plastic or metal one slumped and broke. It's more a question of mass I'd think. Just would take longer to heat.

Cost? Well now that's another issue. Concrete is more of a permanent solution though.

[jow104]

How does the water taste from a concrete tank?

[Eli]

Not bad, as I remember. Really depends on whether there's a dead bird or rat in there doesn't it? I built four (3 15k and one 30k gallon) and lived in a house that had one. We mostly drank bottled though, so that'd be plastic of course.

In the USVI where I had experience w/ them, shipping makes plastic and metal tanks prohibitively costly, so concrete is obvious there. Reo on six inch centers for seismic stability, and finished inside with a Kilz product.

[Barry_White]

How does the water taste from a concrete tank?

Fantastic. I have two concrete tanks and the water is great.

I've tasted water out of a fibreglass tank and it tastes disgusting don't know about poly. I also have a Aquaplate steel tank and the water in the beginning has a yucky taste but improves with age.

At least a concrete tank won't blow away when it's empty.

[watson]

I agree with Bazza,
Not being a water drinker........but a mornng coffee drinker......concrete or corrugated iron works for me

[Pollyanna]

I did find this information about various sorts of tanks. Keeping in mind it is on a site that sells stainless tanks.

http://www.stainlessrainwatertanks.com/other.asp


And this re bushfires:

Q. What about fire resistance of a stainless steel water tanks?
The only tank that is truly fire proof is a concrete tank. Although a bush fire cannot harm the stainless steel besides making it black, prolonged exposure to extreme temperatures will eventually destroy the seal depending on how much water is in the tank. The seal is replaceable. Plastic tanks are legendary to catch fire themselves in such an emergency. Aquaplate, contrary to what some tank manufacturers state, are most sensitive to temperature over 70 degrees. The plastic coating inside the tank will separate and render the tank useless. Zincalume will perform slightly better than aquaplate, up to about 200 degrees when the zincalume coating will melt.

Found here: http://www.stainlessrainwatertanks.com/QA.asp