How To Buy A Plastic Water Tank
How To Buy A Plastic Water Tank – How To Buy A Plastic Water Tank – Over the past few years, we’ve heard a few contractors say “A plastic tank, is a plastic tank” or “A Poly Tank, is a Poly Tank”. Being a Plastic Tank Manufacturer that prides itself on high quality and superior workmanship, we thought we would set the record straight on what some of the key differences are in the plastic tank marketplace to assist you in making a purchase. Are you in the market for a Plastic Water Tank and want some direction on what to look for to find the best tank for your particular application? We have put together a few simple steps you can follow to determine what you should be looking for and what type of Plastic Tank is best for you and your particular application.
STEP #1
How To Buy A Plastic Water Tank – Find A Dealer to Work With
The first step in buying a plastic water tank is to locate a Dealer to do business with. We have two types of Dealers: Retail Dealers & Online Dealers. Retail Tank Dealers have a storefront or a location that has tanks in-stock and ready for Pick-Up or Delivery. If you need a tank quickly, this is the absolute best route to go. Our Online Dealers are great to work with when you do not have a dealer in your area. They are experienced in the freight business and help you in determining the best and most economical way to get your tank shipped to your home of office. We have 13 tank color options, so sometimes it can be difficult to find the exact color you are looking for at a Retail Dealer. In this circumstance, you could work with the Retail Dealer in getting the exact tank you are looking for on their next inventory order. Or you can order exactly what you want from a Retail or Online Dealer, wait for it to be manufactured and then have it shipped to your home or office. Here is a link to our “ Find A Dealer” page. Here is a link to our “Buy Online” page.
Step #2
How To Buy A Plastic Water Tank – Select a Plastic Tank depending on your Application
If you are building an irrigation system with a water well as the water source or if you are building a well water storage system for drinking water, you need a Water Storage Tank. Water Storage Tanks are assembled with an Inlet Fitting at the top of the tank, an Outlet Fitting at the bottom of the tank and a Vented Tank Lid. This is the traditional way most manufacturers assemble their Plastic Tanks, which works great for these applications.
If your application calls for collecting Rainwater as your water source, you want a tank assembled specifically for the proper collection of Rainwater. Unlike a Water Well System where a float switch would tell your well pump to shut off when your tank is full, you can’t tell Mother Nature to stop making rain fall from the sky! So you need a tank equipped with an appropriate sized overflow fitting so that you can let rainwater exit the tank just as fast as it enters the tank. This is very important or else your system could back up and cause damage to your home’s fascia boards and gutters in a large rain event. Some consumers get bad information from Tank Dealers (not our Dealers) and try to utilize Water Storage Tanks for rainwater applications and use the Top Inlet Fitting on a Water Storage Tank as the overflow. These small fittings cannot overflow water as fast as a gutter downspout, 3″ PVC Pipe or 4″ PVC Pipe can bring rainwater in to your tank. In Rainwater Harvesting applications, you also want a Screened Inlet and a Screened Overflow Fitting so that you can keep your stored rainwater free of mosquitoes and other insects. Nothing is screened on a Water Storage Tank. Therefore, if you are collecting rainwater, the best thing to do is buy a Rainwater Harvesting Tank and save yourself from cutting big holes into your tank and retro-fitting a Water Storage Tank.
What if you are you wanting to store an Emergency Drinking Water supply at home? Before you buy a standard water storage tank, you should check out the benefits of an Emergency Water Storage Tank. Again, these are assembled specifically for stationary drinking water storage. No Retro-Fitting required. Just a turn-key experience! If you were to use a standard water storage tank in this application, you’ll experience a few issues. First of all, water storage tanks are assembled with pumping applications in mind. So if you are thinking about keeping your tank on the concrete in your garage, there is no raised fitting to pull water from and directly fill a bucket, unless you put your tank on a stand and use the bottom fitting. Secondly, there is an unnecessary top Inlet Fitting installed in standard Water Storage Tanks that ultimately you are paying for. In this application, that fitting just gets plugged up and serves zero purpose. The problem is, it doesn’t come with a plug so you have to go buy one. Third, standard Water Storage Tanks don’t come with Lead-Free Brass Hardware for dispensing your emergency drinking water, so you have to run to the hardware store and figure out what you need. This will only cost you more time and money. Not only are our Emergency Water Storage Tanks assembled specifically for storing a stationary back-up drinking water supply at home, they are turn-key and ship with everything you need inside the tank! You just need to apply thread tape upon installing the hardware. They are also available in 13 colors, have a 5 year warranty, are BPA-Free, comply with Kosher Dietary Laws and exceed FDA/NSF-61 requirements.
STEP #3
How To Buy A Plastic Water Tank – Selecting the Appropriate Color Plastic Tank
The majority of the plastic tanks you see in the market are Black or Dark Green. You typically see these colors most in water applications because Black is the darkest color by nature and therefore should block the most sunlight from entering your tank. This is important in most water storage applications because not blocking UV Rays results in algae growth inside your tank. Algae growth can cause maintenance issues. You certainly don’t want algae growing in your drinking water tank and you definitely do not want to send algae through your filtration system as you’ll be replacing filters too frequently. You would think that blocking sunlight in Water Tanks would be an industry standard, but it’s not. In fact, the majority of plastic tanks on the market let sunlight right in. You may have heard or read that if your tank is manufactured in an “Opaque” color that algae will not grow. This is NOT true. You should ask the representative if the tank is made with “Compounded” material or look inside a Black or Dark Green Plastic Tank before buying it. If sunlight comes through the sidewalls, you are looking at a tank that is made with material that is not “compounded” and you may elect to shop a different brand tank at a different retailer. All Poly-Mart manufactured Black or Dark Green Tanks are made with compounded, High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) material that won’t allow sunlight in.
Step #4
How To Buy A Plastic Water Tank – The Quality of the Materials Used in Manufacture
Before some consumer’s buy a Plastic Tank, they elect to research the plastic material which the tank is made from. With so many different material options out there, Plastic Tank manufacturers don’t all use the same base material. Poly-Mart will NEVER sacrifice quality for price as our name and reputation is sacred to us. Therefore, we use premium High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) that complies with NSF/ANSI Standard 61. Also, our resin complies with the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s food additive regulation 21 CFR 177.1520(c), paragraph 3.1a. When manufactured in our Natural Translucent color (since sunlight passes right through, natural tanks have a shorter life span), our material has a 15-year UV stabilizer package added. This is 33% longer than some tanks on the market. Additionally, we have been manufacturing plastic trash containers for 15 years with the same material as we use in our tanks. Our Waste & Recycling Plastic Containers get picked up and slammed on the ground once or sometimes twice a week and sit in the sun their whole life. Our oldest containers in the field are still alive and well without color fading! If you have even seen a color faded plastic tank, it’s quite possible that low-quality pigment was used which allowed the fading to occur. We hope that being transparent about our material quality helps in making your buying decision easier. Here are some more specs on our resin:
BPA-Free: Our material is BPA-Free or is NOT manufactured or formulated with Bisphenol A (CAS# 80-05-7).
Kosher: The raw materials used in the manufacture of our tanks are derived from non-animal sources. There is no animal fat, no animal derived materials, grain derived, or fermentation products used. Our tanks are not certified as Kosher but will comply with the Kosher dietary laws. Therefore, our tanks can be used in Kosher applications without compromising the status of the products.
Animal Derived Components: To the best of our material manufacturer’s knowledge, this product is not manufactured or formulated with ingredients of animal origin.
Food Allergens: To the best of our material manufacturer’s knowledge, there are no raw materials, including additives, that have their origin in peanuts, soybeans, milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, mustard, celery, sesame, and/or wheat or gluten. No sulfates or sulfites are used in the synthesis of this material. This evaluation is based on the information provided by the manufacturer’s raw materials and additive suppliers for the presence of the allergen-stimulating substances shown above. Therefore, although we believe our material to be free of the specified known allergy stimulating food substances, we cannot guarantee this.
Phthalates: Our material is not intentionally manufactured or formulated with phthalate esters
Halogenated Flame Retardants: This product is not intentionally manufactured of formulated with halogenated or phosphorous based flame retardants.
