Water tank damaged ideas what did i do wrong?

Col Rennie · Veteran Member

Water tank damaged ideas what did i do wrong?

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Sounds very much like the vent is blocked or non existent.

Cheers,
Peter

dieseltojo · Senior Member

Hi Col Rennie,

Yep, I never advise a tank to be emptied for storage. I never have in 50 years of camping and never had a water problem.

That said, it is hard to say what caused it to split. I would say that due to being empty it has been able to expand and contract more than the poly would like, then the incoming pressure was too much for it. Or a manufacturing fault.

As already noted, a hornet might have built a nest in the expansion area, but more likely the over flow hose might be kinked or trapped with the movement of the empty tank.

I remember this happening to a bloke years ago and the van was moved by the caravan (long term parking) mob and then placed onto a site. They must not have taken it over even ground, or the van sunk a bit into the mud. Or the tyres were low.
Anyway the tank corner was hit on something and damaged.

I asked the owner where it was parked and even showed him what they had dragged the van across.

Hard to say with out a good look mate.

Col Rennie · Veteran Member

Thank you for the feed back.

It is greatly appreciated.

I will disconnect the overflow pipe and run water through it to ensure it is clear and drop the tank out this week end to see the actual damage .

Thank you again

Tony Bev · Guru

As others above have said, it is hard to say without removing the tank, and looking at it

From my observations, a lot of rubber and plastics, suffer from age hardening, due to the cold and heat cycles
Perhaps over the eight months of storage, the empty tank has been contracting in the cold, and expanding in the heat, which may have caused a weak spot
Or the tank may have had a weak spot from new

I removed the 59 litre tank from my old caravan to clean it out, the thickness was not uniform

As far as the rusty bolts go, use a wire brush and plenty of CRC/Penetrine before trying to undo them
Also (if the bolt head is not welded in), use two ring spanners and try to loosen the nut off, by going back and forth

mustangdude · Member

I'd be surprised if the tank was made of ABS and it split. That stuff is tuff.
Hopefully it's a fitting came unscrewed or snapped off. You're going to undo the fittings before dropping the tank so hopefully you find an easy fix.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

99.9% of commercial water tanks and most custom made ones are polyethylene, either blow moulded or rotation moulded (with custom ones hot air welded).
A few custom made ones might be hot air welded from polypropylene or ABS.
If it is split and made from polyethylene it can probably be repaired by hot air welding provided the wall section is sufficient (there are some very thin junk ones about).

I may be easier to cut the bolts off and replace them with new ones.

Cheers,
Peter

-- Edited by Peter_n_Margaret on Monday 4th of December 2017 09:16:40 AM

lizard · Veteran Member

We had one of our water tanks split after filling - tank split on the seam ..... my vent was clear - water spurted out .... !!! Replaced the tank

Possum3 · Guru

I had one split on and Old Viscount 1977. Tanks are cheap -replace and ensure overflow vent isn't blocked

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

And buy the heaviest one you can find.

Cheers,
Peter

PeterD · Guru

I have not heard of one splitting for quite some years. Back in the 90s it used to be common where people filled their tanks with full flow from a tank and the hose was pushed a fair way down the filler. . A lot of tanks are formed from two mouldings that are stuck together, they were splitting on that seam.

See if you can get the split welded. Then make sure you have good free flowing breathers. Also take a little more time to fill your tanks.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

If you are in Adelaide I may be able to repair it.

Cheers,
Peter

dieseltojo · Senior Member

mustangdude wrote:
I'd be surprised if the tank was made of ABS and it split. That stuff is tuff.
Hopefully it's a fitting came unscrewed or snapped off. You're going to undo the fittings before dropping the tank so hopefully you find an easy fix.

I would be surprised too mustangdude,

Abs is not considered safe as a food receptacle according to this very cursory search. It also is a lot more expensive than poly carbonate which does not leach into food even when heated.

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=is+ABS++poisonous+&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b&gfe_rd=cr&dcr=0&ei=if4lWuGjKaTM8gfMgbLgBw

Is ABS safe?

There is some debate about it, but ABS is generally considered unsafe to use with anything that will touch food. This is because ABS contains toxic chemicals which could leach into your food and eventually, your mouth.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

dieseltojo wrote:
Abs is not considered safe as a food receptacle according to this very cursory search. It also is a lot more expensive than poly carbonate which does not leach into food even when heated.

Errrr...... I have never seen a polycarbonate RV tank. It costs much more than ABS (and is much tougher), but it is used for those transparent 20L upsidedown water bottles.

Nor would have a problem using ABS for a water tank, but polyethylene is cheaper and tougher and there are more appropriate manufacturing methods typically used for polyethylene.

Cheers,

Peter

Col Rennie · Veteran Member

Thank you all as always this site really helps newbies like me.

Tomorrow I have the time to drop the tank and see for the first time the real damageto the tank

Spoke to the manufacture sounds like the tank has split on the seam as the tanks are two halfs welded together.

Interesting

wish me luck

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Nor have I ever seen a commercially available RV water tank that is made in "2 halves welded together".
Most will have what looks like a join, but it is not, it is just a line on the outside where the 2 halves of the mould come together. The tank itself will not have a join (have a look on the inside, if you can).
Commercial RV tanks are made by rotomoulding or by blow moulding (Google those terms if you want to learn more). Both methods are commonly used for RV water tanks. Car fuel tanks are blow moulded which is a cheaper process, but the tooling costs MUCH more. Rainwater tanks are only rotomoulded (because of their size). Both processes use polyethylene.
Rotomoulded RV tanks will typically be heavier (with thicker walls) and more expensive to make (but cost sometimes has no relationship with selling price).

Cheers,
Peter

-- Edited by Peter_n_Margaret on Wednesday 6th of December 2017 07:00:52 PM

Col Rennie · Veteran Member