upright or flat?

[rafawindowcleaning]

Hi

Soon will be getting a scull wanted a 500l tank in it but can't decide flat or upright? Pros and cons? Cheers

 

[rafawindowcleaning]

Not a scull but a scudo

 

[Alex Gardiner]

Hi
Soon will be getting a scull wanted a 500l tank in it but can't decide flat or upright? Pros and cons? Cheers

The upright version would give you a higher centre of gravity so the van would be less stable whilst cornering or braking. The flat version would be more inherently stable in the vehicle when full, however if using a large flat tank such as this it would be worth considering adding extra baffling tubes to reduce the wave effect when the tank is partially empty.

 

[spruce]

added to what Alex says:

The flat tank has a larger footprint and if you are parked 'the wrong way' on a hill you can be end up sucking air if you are low on water.

Years back a fellow windie had identical 2 vans, one with a upright 400 liter tank and the other with a 400 liter flat tank. He had no end of pumping issues with the flat tank. He would never fit another van with a flat tank for this reason.

We live in an area where some of our residential work is on steep hills.

 

[rafawindowcleaning]

Seems like upright it is then

 

[bluewater]

Hi guys I have installed a 400 litre and 350 litre flat tank in my van, they are joined together. I must say I have had no issues with my pumps. I would personally highly recommend a flat tank because the vehicle will handle much better. Ive designed mine with flat tanks aswell so I still have alot of space in the van.View attachment 4012

View attachment 4011

 

[♠Winp®oClean♠]

The "flat" version of the 500ltr Wydale wfp tanks are actually more "cube" shaped- which gives you the best of both worlds & the reason I chose it for my Dispatch. Look online at the dimensions, don't ask me why but this seems only the case for the 500ltr version.

 

[SPCleaning]

I like that @bluewater

I too use a flat tank and have had no issues with it.

 

[bluewater]

thanks jp.

Perhaps something else that helps me avoid problems with sucking air in is my pumps are mounted at the lowest point in the van (in the side door step). That way water will usually always fall towards the pumps when on flat ground. If you have a lot of hils in your area mount the pumps at the one end of the tank so that when the you park the van on the hill, the water will fall towards the pumps. Obviously you will have to work the steet in the right direction so water falls the right way.

I myself live in the valleys of south wales so theres quite a few hills up this way, but never been a problem for me.

 

[bluewater]

sorry not jp thanks sp

 

[SPCleaning]

I raised my tank slightly so the pump was lower.

Not the best picture, but the tank is six inches higher than floor level. I like the way you have made a false floor @bluewater . I may look at doing something similar in the future.



image free hosting

 

[♠Winp®oClean♠]

A non-return valve in the tank outlet will cure most pump/air ingress issues.

 

[Smurf]

I was parked on a hill today (slightly off topic sorry) but I could not get the pressure washer up the ramps through the back doors even taking a run up

Had to move some gear about and load it in the side door instead whch was fun /emoticons/biggrin.png

 

[Smurf]

That is one reasn why I use upright tanks as takes up less room being smaller footprint so have more room for other gear I need to take to jobs.

 

[Bingo]

I was parked on a hill today (slightly off topic sorry) but I could not get the pressure washer up the ramps through the back doors even taking a run up

Either get a winch...or park facing downhill........hope these words of wisdom will be of help to my good mate Smurfy /emoticons/biggrin.png.

 

[Bingo]

That is one reasn why I use upright tanks as takes up less room being smaller footprint so have more room for other gear I need to take to jobs.

It's all 'swings 'n' roundabouts'....depends if you need the headroom or floor space.

Build a false floor over a 'flat tank' and you have the entire floor space to use with extra storage available underneath /emoticons/tongue.png/emoticons/biggrin.png.

 

[tench0771]

uprite ive get no airlocks then

 

[Bingo]

I have a flat tank in my van and not had any problems :thumbsup::thumbsup:.

 

[rafawindowcleaning]

right thanks everyone for your input i am esentially no wiser than yesterday but the false floor idea seems quite good ;-)

 

[Keir999]

Ive had both types of tank. I did get the odd problem with the flat when parked wrong way on a hill. You need to site the vehicle a certain way sometimes if running low on water. I have now gone for a 650l upright and im loving all the extra floor space in Van. I'd always go for upright now.

 

[Smurf]

I got a good used 450 flat tank for 25 squid localy on fleebay to try it in my old berlingo. layed it inside as a test and fitted well so would have been fine just doing windows. Only problem then even without building a false floor my large guttervac did not fit on top of it as the headroom was too low. Not only that would have been a pig to load my gear into the van espesially heavy stuff like the guttervac, pressuer washer kit etc.

The point I'm making if you intend to offer other services then you really need a low loading area to make it easier to load/unload kit and obviously enough space to store it too.