Notes from Wucheng, CN 33 articles the water tank 7 topics floor.

It follows the order a real purchase happens in: capacity and footprint first, then material, then hygiene and drinking-water safety, then site and foundation, then shipping and assembly, and finally the documents you should insist on. Each of the six chapters is written from tanks we have actually built, and the 33 articles on this page go deeper on single questions such as panel thickness, torque values or winter duty.

Start from duty, not from a catalogue. Work out the stored volume the duty requires, then check it against the footprint and headroom you have, then add the draw-down and refill rate. Fire reserves are sized from the required duration at full flow, which is where most over-buying happens. Sectional tanks are built from panel modules of 2x1, 1.5x1, 1x1, 1x0.5 and 0.5x0.5 m, so the water tank is shaped to your space rather than rounded up to the next drum size.

Match the material to the water and the site. GRP/SMC is the default for potable storage in plant rooms and rooftops: light, corrosion-proof and it ships flat. Stainless steel suits process and hygienic duty, with 316L where chlorides are present. Hot-dip galvanized is economical for large outdoor reserves. Enameled steel gives long municipal life, and BDF is for buried stores.

Ask for a water contact test report on the actual panel material, not a general statement. Ours are tested to GB/T 17219 at a state institute, covering 20 parameters, and each report carries its own number. In other markets the equivalent references are NSF/ANSI 61 and the UK WRAS scheme. Every report we hold is listed with its number on the certifications page.

A level, load-bearing base and clear access. We work to 3 mm over any 3 m of plinth, because a sectional tank transfers its load through the base course and a high spot will hold a panel joint open. You also need the inlet, outlet, overflow, drain and vent positions agreed before panels are pressed, since those penetrations are punched at the factory. The plinth layout is issued with the approved drawing.

Flat-packed and bolted. Panels, stiffeners, bolts and gaskets are kitted per tank so one crate equals one water tank, shipped out through Tianjin or Qingdao. On site the water tank bolts together with hand tools, so no welding, no hot-work permit and no crane. That is what lets a tank go into a plant room through a 2.1 m door, and it is why a damaged panel can later be replaced on its own instead of scrapping the tank.

At minimum: the approved general arrangement drawing, the material certificates for the panels, the water contact test report, the hydrostatic test sheet for your water tank, the quality management certificate and the packing list. We issue all of these, and blank templates plus the standing certificates are on the datasheets and downloads page. If a supplier will not name the issuer and number of a certificate, treat the certificate as absent.

For most storage duties on a coastal or corrosive site, yes. A bolted sectional tank has no heat-affected zone, ships flat, can be assembled in a confined space and can be repaired panel by panel. A welded tank makes sense where a fully seamless interior is required, which is why we still build argon arc welded stainless tanks for process duty. The right answer follows the duty, not the fashion.

A great deal, and it is not uniform. Hydrostatic pressure rises with depth, so the bottom course carries the most load: on a tall GRP tank that means 14 mm at the base where the top course may be 6 mm. Panel thickness across our SMC range runs from 6 mm to 22 mm and is selected per course against tank height. A supplier quoting one thickness for a whole tank is quoting a water tank that is either over-priced at the top or under-designed at the bottom.

Approving the drawing quickly. The approved drawing is the contract: panel layout, penetration positions, ladder and manhole placement and plinth centres are all fixed from it, and changing any of them after pressing costs time. Read it against the plant room, not against the specification. If you want a second pair of eyes, our engineers review drawings free through technical support and reply within 2 hours.

All of them, but the sizing and material chapters matter most when you are choosing between ranges. Compare GRP/FRP/SMC for plant rooms and rooftops, stainless steel for potable and process duty, hot-dip galvanized for large outdoor reserves, enameled steel for long municipal life and BDF underground for buried storage. Each range carries 13 models, and the full catalogue shows them side by side.