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500L+ water tank recommendations

jgrayson11

Member
Messages
47
Location
Midlands
Hi all,

Looking to upgrade my current flat baffled tank to an upright (was originally a gumtree purchase a few years ago and has been good to me, but I despise the fact it leaks and takes up so much space in the van!).

Ideally looking for an upright, baffled 500L tank, though willing to consider larger if price difference is negligible.

Can anyone recommend a supplier for such a tank?

Thank you in advance.

 
Hi all,

Looking to upgrade my current flat baffled tank to an upright (was originally a gumtree purchase a few years ago and has been good to me, but I despise the fact it leaks and takes up so much space in the van!).

Ideally looking for an upright, baffled 500L tank, though willing to consider larger if price difference is negligible.

Can anyone recommend a supplier for such a tank?

Thank you in advance.
What about Gardiners if you want to buy new. 

 
I guess the first thing to do is look at which van you’ve got and the payload. 
I have a caddy with a flat tank in very securely fastened in. I thought I might change it for more space like yourself, but today I’ve been speaking to someone who fits vans out, and he said in my van the flat tank is better, I was going to go for an upright 400. But chatting to him and him going over a few points with me. I’m keeping the flat tank. ?

 


What about Gardiners if you want to buy new. 
Thanks for the info!

Pure freedom's sale equates to a couple of quid less than gardiner (at full price including VAT and delivery), despite both prices seeming reasonable.

For reference, I have a Peugeot Expert 1.6 Medium wheelbase, so plenty of actual space inside the van, but I carry a pressure washer in summer and have to move everything around to accomodate, simply because of my tank. My payload is 1800kg, so plenty of room to add significantly more weight at this point,

I've had a flat tank since I had an L200 pickup a couple years ago, then transitioned to the van I have now but never changed my tank!

Jango, what did you learn about your flat tank that was better than an upright? Presumably something about the way water swishes around inside the tank once driving and cornering? 

A friend of mine has an upright 350L tank in a 2010 transit connect, bolted to the bulkhead. Never had any trouble with leaking or moving and the van handles steady!

My aim with the upright was initially to move the tank to the bulkhead and bolt it in too, both to the floor of the van and the bulkhead, then add a couple of ratchet straps for further stability. Seemed most logical but these things often get confusing!

 
Flat verses upright; another hot potato topic.?

This is one of those topics that goes down to what a fitter believes is best. By advising on a flat tank option, a fitter is offering the best advice he can give from a safety point of view. But the fitter isn't the one using the system he is fitting, He is basically just covering his backside and he isn't wrong doing that.

From purely a safety point of view, I would give the same advice if someone was asking. But as a user I would opt for an upright tank as its less hassle. Most window cleaners who have had both flat and upright tanks in their vans would probably say the upright tank was better. I don't have a problem with my upright tank sucking air when the level drops because the tank has a smaller footprint.

I believe that having an upright tank is less safe in an accident which I hope will never happen. But I also believe that have a good crash tested tank and frame secured through the van's chassis with high tensile bolts are paramount. I also believe that an upright tanks needs to be fitted in the correct position so as not to overload either axle.

A fitter could advise a flat tank option rather as he is less likely to overload an axle due to the bigger footprint. Sometimes we have to understand that these guys are just fitters. I wonder how many know the formula for correctly positioning a tank in a van correctly. I don't say this loosely and temper my comment that this doesn't apply to everyone, but having come from the motor trade I just couldn't believe how many motor mechanics in the dealer workshops are just plain and utterly useless.

Thanks for the info!

Pure freedom's sale equates to a couple of quid less than gardiner (at full price including VAT and delivery), despite both prices seeming reasonable.

For reference, I have a Peugeot Expert 1.6 Medium wheelbase, so plenty of actual space inside the van, but I carry a pressure washer in summer and have to move everything around to accomodate, simply because of my tank. My payload is 1800kg, so plenty of room to add significantly more weight at this point,

I've had a flat tank since I had an L200 pickup a couple years ago, then transitioned to the van I have now but never changed my tank!

Jango, what did you learn about your flat tank that was better than an upright? Presumably something about the way water swishes around inside the tank once driving and cornering? 

A friend of mine has an upright 350L tank in a 2010 transit connect, bolted to the bulkhead. Never had any trouble with leaking or moving and the van handles steady!

My aim with the upright was initially to move the tank to the bulkhead and bolt it in too, both to the floor of the van and the bulkhead, then add a couple of ratchet straps for further stability. Seemed most logical but these things often get confusing!


That sounds a bit high.

Parker's guide says this;

Peugeot Expert payload, weight & towing

There are three nominal gross vehicle weights of 2.7t, 2.9t and 3.1t, which correspond to payloads of around 1,000kg, 1,200kg, and 1,400kg respectively.

At its very best, the Expert can transport nearly 1,500kg of payload - making it the joint best medium van for payload at the time of writing (April 2019).

As for towing capacity, the unbraked rating is the usual 750kg, while for braked towing it's rated up to 2,500kg.

 
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Flat tank is safer and more stable whilst driving as the centre of gravity is lower if you want scientific reply  , but a pain for sucking air especially if facing the opposite  way to the tank out let . 

Upright tanks vary rarely draw air until they are practically empty , as weight is higher up will cause more swaying and possible stability issues but if baffled should be fine , I wouldn’t have a flat tank as a gift personally, I know to many that have had them and had so many issues with it drawing air and getting air locks .

 
Thanks for the info!

Pure freedom's sale equates to a couple of quid less than gardiner (at full price including VAT and delivery), despite both prices seeming reasonable.

For reference, I have a Peugeot Expert 1.6 Medium wheelbase, so plenty of actual space inside the van, but I carry a pressure washer in summer and have to move everything around to accomodate, simply because of my tank. My payload is 1800kg, so plenty of room to add significantly more weight at this point,

I've had a flat tank since I had an L200 pickup a couple years ago, then transitioned to the van I have now but never changed my tank!

Jango, what did you learn about your flat tank that was better than an upright? Presumably something about the way water swishes around inside the tank once driving and cornering? 

A friend of mine has an upright 350L tank in a 2010 transit connect, bolted to the bulkhead. Never had any trouble with leaking or moving and the van handles steady!

My aim with the upright was initially to move the tank to the bulkhead and bolt it in too, both to the floor of the van and the bulkhead, then add a couple of ratchet straps for further stability. Seemed most logical but these things often get confusing!
Firstly all the tanks swish about. I don’t have any leaking from it, before I put the lid on the tank after each fill, I put a carrier bag over the hole, then screw the lid on, this stops water leaking out of the vented cap. As soon as I arrive to my first job I remove it before starting. 
In the caddy it’s a plastic bulkhead. So today he spoke about not bolting an upright tank in as it’s much harder to secure for this reason, the flat tank distributes the weight more evenly. The 350 litre tanks are classed as an upright, but they are more box shape unlike the 400’s. if I could get through a day on a 350 tank I would swap it out, but I would have to go home at lunchtime, to refill. He did say they can get custom tanks made. But I don’t have any problems with mine so I’m not changing it.He  thought it would not be worth it for me for the bit of space I would get. This really was a personal discussion in line with how my vans been kitted out etc, and the plastic bulkhead. Your van could be totally different. 

 
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I have had a flat tank and they just aren't practical at all in terms of taking up space and airlocks, I have never had an airlock issue with my 350ltr upright tank and I almost run it dry down to around 25 litres, then close the tank outlet tap valve before setting off home. 

 
Hi all,

Looking to upgrade my current flat baffled tank to an upright (was originally a gumtree purchase a few years ago and has been good to me, but I despise the fact it leaks and takes up so much space in the van!).

Ideally looking for an upright, baffled 500L tank, though willing to consider larger if price difference is negligible.

Can anyone recommend a supplier for such a tank?

Thank you in advance.
 I use a 500ltr upright and personally find it plenty big enough. The water lasts a couple of days and its so handy having more space to put my bits and bobs in. I do carpet cleaning to and gutter vaccing so plenty of space is important. I had mine fitted at the cleaning warehouse who I think did a great job and were a pleasure to deal with.

 
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