Custom Holding Tanks

[Ed Hackenbruch]

Ned, shhhh....    Jim, hadn't thought of that. Would yank the gauge though, would probably quit working and never needed one anyway.

[Van]

Hmmm......wonder how i missed that one!

Yeah I remember that incident, lol guess who owns that coach now?

[niles500]

That was Ace over 15 years ago, I believe there never was any problem with his tanks

[buswarrior]

Jim, what, theoretically speaking, will the constituent components of urine do to aluminum or stainless?

And here we go!!!

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior

[chessie4905]

Our 4104 had aluminum tanks when built by the converter. The holding tank needed to be replaced due to corrosion leakage after about 10 years. We replaced with hand built plastic from sheet stock and plastic welder.

[TomC]

You can't hardly compare the life of a plastic sprayer tank that is subjected to the sun and harsh chemicals to the hidden from light tanks on a bus. In the 26 years I've had my tanks (made by https://ronco-plastics.com/product-category/boat-tanks/ ) no problems at all. Ronco makes the tanks for Ardemco. Good Luck, TomC

[Jim Blackwood]

Aluminum would be a problem of course. That might not be obvious to everyone. Once when I was a kid I had a nice aluminum hair comb I was really proud of. Put it in a glass of ammonia one night to clean it and the next morning it had no teeth! so there you have it. Don't use aluminum for the black water tank. Any base will eat it. It holds up pretty well to acids though. Over time detergents might attack it too since they are essentially a base buffered with a hydrocarbon.

The stainless... I'm not so sure. It's pretty impervious stuff overall so it probably depends mostly on the specific composition. I can't really see ammonia attacking nickel or chromium but you have a fair amount of iron in there too so over time the cheaper grades may pit. So just make sure it is a good grade of stainless and I suspect it will be OK. The more nickel and chromium in it the better basically.

Jim

[luvrbus]

That was Ace over 15 years ago, I believe there never was any problem with his tanks

Must have been a problem those tanks are not in that bus now ,for the capacity round tanks take to much space compered to a custom tank

[Dave5Cs]

No stainless for our water tanks. They leach Nickle because as Jim said above they have it in it. For people with Nickle allergies ( Like my wife) she has to stay away form it. Highly allergic to it.

[luvrbus]

No stainless for our water tanks. They leach Nickle because as Jim said above they have it in it. For people with Nickle allergies ( Like my wife) she has to stay away form it. Highly allergic to it.

Rico told me in Switzerland where he lives all fresh water piping is done with Stainless Steel in commercial building and residential homes no plastic or copper allowed,I won't drink from anything made Vinyl Chloride  (PVC).when I worked for Tenneco in the 60's I saw what that was made of 

[Jim Blackwood]

Also, if you are talking about fresh water tanks (you are, right?) aluminum is once again, maybe not the best choice. Medical opinions may have changed, but about 30 years ago the medical industry was making links between aluminum in the body and Alzheimer's disease. Because aluminum is  a very reactive metal, avoiding taking it in via food or drink is probably a good idea. If you buy into that anyway. As likely as Nickel alergies I suppose so that's at least a possibility.

Regrettably the truly safe options for fresh water are few. Plastics as a class of materials have a nasty tendency towards something called "outgassing" in which they leach plasticizers. And since they are hydrocarbons there's a wide range of elements which can potentially have varying levels of toxicity. So although we like to think of plastics as safe, really it's more a point in the spectrum somewhere between safe and unsafe. Water bottles for instance can have up to 5 layers of plastics, the inner of which is usually PET, a relatively innocuous type.

Copper, aside from being a bit reactive can form oxides that are toxic.

Overall, steel is safer, or iron at least but it does rust. Maybe hardwood tanks would be the best for fresh water? Of course they can exude tannins but those don't tend to be particularly harmful. Maybe check with the water company and ask what they use?

Fresh and waste water tanks are very different things.

Jim

[Jim Blackwood]

Another thing about the stainless. There do exist forms of stainless which contain very little or no nickel, Those are the chromium alloys.

Jim

[Ed Hackenbruch]

Just gold plate the inside. 

[windtrader]

blah blah - just drink from a gallon plastic jug of store water. wash using the storage tanks. done

[sledhead]

I run all my drinking water through a R O system plus a U V light and the water has not killed me yet ?

dave