Since I hadn't heard back from Tony, last Tuesday I went uptown to see what Home Depot, Lowe's, and Murdoch's had for tanks.
Since many, many years have passed since my water tank was installed, I guess I should have expected to find the tanks to be very different now. My tank is tall and thin (16" by 48") and has two holes to let the water in and out. The tanks I found at the stores were shorter and fatter. They also have only one opening in the tank, and not two like my tank has.
With the size difference on new tanks I needed to measure the area I have to work with, so I didn't purchase a tank.
In between huckleberry picking, cattle rangling, and other chores I worked on getting ready to replace my tank. I didn't think I could get the old tank out of the shed door so I felt I would have to remove the shed by tipping it over. I started to dig the large amount of dirt - that is my flower garden - away from the shed. One night I dug away the north and east sides. The next night I had dug half the south side before I realized that I wouldn't be able to tip the shed over the tall tank. I would need a machine to lift the shed straight up. That I don't have.
I decided to take off the door and west side of the shed to allow the shed to be tipped over. After I got most of it removed I realized I wouldn't have to move the shed, with this side open I would be able to remove the tank. *duh!*
The next chore was to remove the pipes that led outside the shed for watering the lawn and garden, and for filling the stock tank. There were two openings and three pipes. Only one pipe is still used. One pipe formerly went directly to the stock tank. Another (copper) pipe led to a small basin next to the stock tank that apparently would provide continual water. Around the copper pipe was a heating tape as this pipe was buried only a few inches below ground and was susceptible to freezing in the winter. Another electric cord led to a heating element under the basin. All of this I removed from the shed. I had to take the end of one electric cord off as the plug would not fit through the hole in the wall of the shed. I guess the previous owners, and/or dad felt it was easier to just disconnect stuff instead of making the effort of removing it.
I also removed half of the old insulation inside the shed along with whatever else was extra or in the way.
With all the extra stuff removed I only had the pump, tank, and pipe to the house left. I was now ready to go buy a tank. With my cattle jail break this weekend I wasn't able to go buy a tank. This worked out well as Kyle, the son of Tony the well guy, showed up at my door at 8:30 am Monday morning. I was still sleeping as 8:30 am is early for me.
It turns out Kyle and Tony had a similar sized tank in their boneyard. Someone had upgraded their tank size so they had a used tank to sell me. Kyle was on his way to a repair job in Big Mountain, but he dropped off the used tank. The new tank, while almost the same size, does have only a single opening. So some plumbing was required to hook up pipes.
The tank Kyle brought was a Well-X-Trol model WX-203. As you can see from the specs it is only a couple inches shorter than my tank. In the following photo my new tank is the tall thin one. My old tank is a galvanized steel pressure tank. The new tank has an air bladder. This will eliminate the chance of it getting waterlogged, as what happened a few years ago.
Tonight (Tuesday) after 6:30 pm Lyle came over and we replaced the leaking tank. While old, and a little rusty, the old pipe connections did unscrew easier than I imagined they would.
We placed the newer tank on the concrete floor to the south side of the shed instead of on the boards over the well casing. The old tank was half on-and-off the casing. The re-position of the tank required some changes in the pipes, but that was a given as the tank had only one opening instead of two. Being to the side allows easier access to the pump and rear of the shed. Before I had to squeeze around one side of the tank.
I used this opportunity to replace the shutoff valve with a new one. The old valve, when closed, would still allow a slow steady drip of water which was a problem last year when I fixed another section of the pipe. I also moved the location of the shutoff valve. Before, the shutoff value stopped water from the tank to everything. Now I have two shutoff values: one to the house and one to the outside. In the future if I have a problem with the pipe to the house I can still have water via the faucet in the pump house.
We put a short pipe and faucet on the "outside" line for now. Later I will assemble the pipe and fittings so the faucet can go through the pump shed wall to the outside for easy lawn/gardening access. I plan to move the "outside" pipe higher so I don't have to bend down as far and so it is not in the way of the lawn mover when I mow the grass.
As Brain commented on my "low water pressure" during his visit, I had Kyle increase the pump's pressure. Before, the on/off pressure was 23 lbs to 48 lbs. Now it is 26 lbs to 52 lbs. It doesn't sound like a great increase but I had to balance the increase in water pressure against the old age of the house's pipes and fittings. Besides, I was fine with the old water pressure.
So, my leaking problems are fixed. Now I need to put the pieces back together once the shed's insides dry completely. Too bad I didn't realize earlier that I didn't need to dig the dirt away from the shed.
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