5 Tips For Buying A Water Tank

By Author: Adam Petford
Total Articles: 6
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Water tanks have heaps of benefits - from reducing your water bill, to a healthier garden, to doing your bit to help with Australia’s freshwater crisis. Australia has faced many droughts in recent years, and the country’s per-person water storage capacity has fallen by 25 percent in the last two decades as the population has grown from 19 to 25 million people. In fact, it’s already estimated that Sydney could run entirely dry by next year if another desalinisation plant isn’t added (source).

With that in mind, there’s a more compelling case than ever for harvesting free rainwater courtesy of Mother Nature. Here’s what you need to know to make that happen.

1. Water tanks aren’t just for the countryside, and they don’t have to be round.
You’ve probably seen plenty of huge round water tanks out in country towns, on farms and so on. They’re not known for being seen much in the city, or for being particularly good looking. However, more and more city dwellers are adopting attractive, space-saving slimline water tanks ...
... that can easily fit in a backyard and make a significant dent in the water bills of the average Aussie family. Rather than being round, they’re rectangular, meaning the same capacity with less wasted space.

2. When it comes to choosing a water tank, materials matter.
There’s quite a few different materials used to build water tanks, each with their own environmental, financial and lifespan benefits.

First up, “poly” (plastic) water tanks are the cheapest in terms of upfront investment, but also have the lowest lifespan, and from an environmental perspective they’re not great because by the time they’re no longer usable and you’re ready to recycle them, they’re not much use as a recycled material either.

Next, fibreglass water tanks. These are a bit pricier, but come with distinct benefits - they’re more UV-resistant than poly, which increases their lifespan in direct sunlight

However, they do let in more sunlight than other materials, which can lead to algae. It’s also possible for the tanks to crack because they’re relatively brittle, but usually these cracks can be repaired. Environmentally speaking, they’re generally not recyclable and will end up in landfill after their useful life.
Then there’s steel water tanks, which are often seen as a best of both worlds - they’re more expensive than poly or fibreglass, but much longer lasting, making them a long-term investment. They’re also fully recyclable. Win-win!

Lastly, concrete water tanks last for many decades, but are much more pricey, and are generally only used for commercial settings.

3. Think capacity.
The size of your water tank will determine its price, and also its capacity. As a rule of thumb, you can work out the right capacity for your water tank using the water bill capacity formula; basically, you check how many litres your household uses on average in a month, and you get a water tank that’s big enough to handle as much of it as your budget, your area rainfall and your rooftop size allows. And fortunately, there’s a formula for this too: Roughly speaking, 1 millimetre of rain over 1 square metre of roof equals 1 litre of water. You can head to the Bureau of Meteorology to check the rainwater in your area, and just check your rooftop size to gather what your expected rainwater will be. It’s best to get a water tank that’s a little bigger than your expected water usage for the month, so you’ll have some extra space to retain water for use in the drier months.

4. What are you using your water tank for?
There’s a lot of ways you can use the water stored in your water tank; from watering your garden and lawn, flushing your toilets, washing your car, doing your laundry laundry and even filling your swimming pool.

For watering your garden & lawn and washing your car, you won’t need any plumbing work done; however, for anything internal to the house, you’ll need a licensed plumber to connect your tank up to your household plumbing. If you want to use your harvested rainwater as drinking water or bathing water, things get a little complicated; you’ll need a high-quality water filtration system. Many householders don’t bother with this, since most of the water you use in your household isn’t consumed anyway; you can easily drastically decrease your water bill while reducing mains use, and just get your 8 glasses a day per person from mains.

Some other accessories for a water tank that are worth considering are firefighting pumps (especially if you live in a bushfire-prone area) and mosquito-proofing.

consumed anyway; you can easily drastically decrease your water bill while reducing mains use, and just get your 8 glasses a day per person from mains.

Some other accessories for a water tank that are worth considering are firefighting pumps (especially if you live in a bushfire-prone area) and mosquito-proofing.

5. Placement.
So where are you going to put your brand-new water tank? Placement matters. Perhaps the most important thing to consider is that your tank is designed to collect water from a rooftop and deliver it to your water tank via a downpipe, so you can’t have it placed too far from the roof or the downpipes will end up ineffective (because the further they go, the less of an angle they’ll have, stopping gravity from doing its work in collecting the water - and if the downpipes are lower than the top of your water tank, that won’t work either). You also need to have enough space to place your water tank, and it should be placed on a flat surface rather than a slope. As mentioned before, slimline water tanks are great for space-saving; they’re also generally mounted onto the side of your house, making it easier for the downpipes to do their job.

We hope this article has equipped you with the knowledge to feel confident in selecting a water tank! And if you’re looking for more great insight on water tanks, head to Select Water Tanks to learn more and get your questions answered