Ferro cement water tank

[Rothesay Prepper]

Has anyone ever built a Ferro cement water tank, I'm looking at building one in the ground to hold spring water just wondering how they hold up in the winter? I was thinking if I doubled it and filled in the middle with cement it should hold up better.

 

[Caribou]

I have made concrete water and sewer tanks that have held up for decades in Alaska. the water tanks were built into the foundation of the house so the ground heat and home heat keep them from freezing. The sewer tanks are buried so the ground heat and the sewage heat keep them from freezing.

 

[Rothesay Prepper]

I have made concrete water and sewer tanks that have held up for decades in Alaska. the water tanks were built into the foundation of the house so the ground heat and home heat keep them from freezing. The sewer tanks are buried so the ground heat and the sewage heat keep them from freezing.

Ya I was think with it being in the ground it should stay a constant temperature and the spring runs all year so it shouldn't freeze. I was more concerned about the overall thickness of it cracking.

 

[Caribou]

Ya I was think with it being in the ground it should stay a constant temperature and the spring runs all year so it shouldn't freeze. I was more concerned about the overall thickness of it cracking.

While I have made concrete tanks as thin as 2” I would suggest 4” to 6” thick walls with reinforced heavy mesh and/or rebar. insulated concrete forms would be a good way to go. The foam not only provides a rigid form but a couple layers of insulation. They have come out with fibreglass rebar. It cost more but you don’t have to deal with the rebar rusting, expanding, and cracking the concrete.

 

[sonya123]

ours is above ground and has never frozen but water is constantly running and we are not as cold here as Canada, plus it's about a 30000 gallon tank, if you do it, take photos , I would love to see since we might have to replace ours at some point ( see my water thread if you want details)

 

[Pearl]

ours is above ground and has never frozen but water is constantly running and we are not as cold here as Canada, plus it's about a 30000 gallon tank, if you do it, take photos , I would love to see since we might have to replace ours at some point ( see my water thread if you want details)

The constant running stops it from freezing and the water is less likely to have bacteria!

 

[viking]

The 1,100 gallon cistern we built is 3 1/2" thick concrete with 3/8" rebar, I poured the bottom first and inlayed cut strips from s schedule 40 6" PVC pipe so that they stuck out of the bottom about 1 1/2" making a lip to seal the bottom with the sides as it ended up the tank is buried in earth, about to the top on the high side, sloping to about a foot deep on the low side. During the winter months the spring has a very high flow rate so the the water in the tank is constantly moving, even with sub freezing temps there has never been any tank water freezing, the thing that has probably helped is that I also poured a 3 1//2" concrete cover over the cistern with a man hole cap the same thickness, that cap alone probably weighs around 300+ pounds. In the intake elbow that was cast into the bottom I installed a slip fit 1" PVC stand pipe that is a few inches above a full tank that has two notch cut outs at about 4" above the bottom to keep any sediment from getting into the house, having the slip fit pipe allows me to put a solid pipe in for any down line water supply valves or broken pipes or to add another tank, which is in the works, along with changing the two gate valves over to ball valves, wish I'd have installed ball valves to begin with as gate valves just do not holdup, I've often seen the gates disconnected from the valve stems or they are so locked up that they can't even be opened ore closed. We built this cistern in the early 1980's and just recently I went up and scrapped the moss off the sides and top, the concrete is still in excellent condition with absolutely no cracks or spalling, probably because I used a heavier mix of cement to sand/grevel, that makes it like tempered steel. All the concrete was hand mixed in a wheelbarrow, my wife, six year old son and I hand carried the sand and gravel up to the site in 5 gallon pickle buckets, up hill and I carried the 94 pound sacks of cement on my shoulder, looking back, now being 81, I often ask myself, how did I do that? Especially in consideration of building the solar array frame and pouring 12 footings using 90 pound sacks of ready mix cement in 2019, it certainly needs to be said to others, do things while you are still young and strong.

 

[Rothesay Prepper]

The 1,100 gallon cistern we built is 3 1/2" thick concrete with 3/8" rebar, I poured the bottom first and inlayed cut strips from s schedule 40 6" PVC pipe so that they stuck out of the bottom about 1 1/2" making a lip to seal the bottom with the sides as it ended up the tank is buried in earth, about to the top on the high side, sloping to about a foot deep on the low side. During the winter months the spring has a very high flow rate so the the water in the tank is constantly moving, even with sub freezing temps there has never been any tank water freezing, the thing that has probably helped is that I also poured a 3 1//2" concrete cover over the cistern with a man hole cap the same thickness, that cap alone probably weighs around 300+ pounds. In the intake elbow that was cast into the bottom I installed a slip fit 1" PVC stand pipe that is a few inches above a full tank that has two notch cut outs at about 4" above the bottom to keep any sediment from getting into the house, having the slip fit pipe allows me to put a solid pipe in for any down line water supply valves or broken pipes or to add another tank, which is in the works, along with changing the two gate valves over to ball valves, wish I'd have installed ball valves to begin with as gate valves just do not holdup, I've often seen the gates disconnected from the valve stems or they are so locked up that they can't even be opened ore closed. We built this cistern in the early 1980's and just recently I went up and scrapped the moss off the sides and top, the concrete is still in excellent condition with absolutely no cracks or spalling, probably because I used a heavier mix of cement to sand/grevel, that makes it like tempered steel. All the concrete was hand mixed in a wheelbarrow, my wife, six year old son and I hand carried the sand and gravel up to the site in 5 gallon pickle buckets, up hill and I carried the 94 pound sacks of cement on my shoulder, looking back, now being 81, I often ask myself, how did I do that? Especially in consideration of building the solar array frame and pouring 12 footings using 90 pound sacks of ready mix cement in 2019, it certainly needs to be said to others, do things while you are still young and strong.

Do you have any pictures of your setup? I'd love to see how you have the water lines setup.

 

[viking]

Do you have any pictures of your setup? I'd love to see how you have the water lines setup.

Sorry, wish I did but at that time, the early 1980's, cell phones and digital cameras weren't around and I didn't even have a film camera. All I can say is that when I cast the tank I installed lengths of PVC tubing that had a slightly larger inside diameter at the inlet and overflow outlet to allow for running the feed pipe and overflow pipes through.