Add Second Water Storage Tank In Lieu of Larger?

3/3/2021

Our fire water demand capacity is 60,000 gallons, but our current water tank storage capacity is 30,000 gallons. We don't have any space near our current fire water storage tank.

Is it possible to make another (second) tank with a capacity of 30,000 gallons and connect it to the old tank through pipe?

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4 Comments

James M Evans

3/3/2021 11:10:58 am

This is a good question. The real problem with this is getting the water from the second tank to the pump. Due to requirements about the suction vortex plate and sucking in debris from the bottom of the tank, the second tank could not be connected to the first tank.

The only way this could work is by connecting the 2nd tank to the supply side of the pump so that each tank can supply the pump at the same time.

This would alleviate the problem of a tank being drained to a point that you are sucking the water too low and creating problems with cavitation or debris in the supply piping.

Franck

3/3/2021 11:11:09 am

Yes
You just need to interconnect the tank together (which could be done at the suction pipe of your pump).
It is advisable to provide sectional valve in order to isolate fully one tank and keep the other in operation (in case of impairment, you would keep 50 per cent capacity)
But respect NFPA requirements (elbows at horizontal plane on suction side, OS&Y valves on suction side, etc.)

Glenn Berger

3/3/2021 11:55:50 am

Possible - Yes, can be very tricky and very expensive. How old is the existing tank? Will the tank be able to be place with similar elevations?

Brian Gerdwagen

3/3/2021 05:26:06 pm

It is generally a good idea to have two half-size tanks. During cleaning or other maintenance, you only lose half of your fire protection capacity.

Required in DoD for mission critical facilities.

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Add Second Water Storage Tank In Lieu of Larger?

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