I have this tank in my basement that I can't figure out what it is for.
Possibly a water softener, or filter. It's starting to leak (probably from
rust), but I don't know what it is to replace! Can you identify? It's from
the early 80's probably.

I'd post the picture here but that's a usenet no-no.

No this isn't a spam/junk/send me money link.

http://www.geocities.com/dukes909/mi...y/whatisit.htm

Cheers!
Duke

On Tue, 7 Jun 2005 09:54:12 -0500, "Dukester"
wrote:

I have this tank in my basement that I can't figure out what it is for.
Possibly a water softener, or filter. It's starting to leak (probably from
rust), but I don't know what it is to replace! Can you identify? It's from
the early 80's probably.

I'd post the picture here but that's a usenet no-no.

No this isn't a spam/junk/send me money link.

http://www.geocities.com/dukes909/mi...y/whatisit.htm

Cheers!
Duke


Weird. No maintenance friendly fixtures. Too big to be a (water)
pressure vessel. The pipe with a cock valve going to the tank bottom
will likely be the water IN pipe. Why not reconnect the pipes to
bypass the tank and see what happens. It a lot easier and better to
do this now before that leak becomes a real problem.

It looks like an old pressure tank from a previous pump and tank
installation. It looks much like the tank my parents had with a piston pump
for their well in the 1950s. Probably when they changed over they decided to
keep it in the system to hold extra water, or to maybe use it as a sand trap
considering you found something inside the tank. It sounds redundant, and if
it is that old, with no maintenance, it probably doesn't filter, clean or
catch sand anymore. I would remove it.


"PaPaPeng" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 7 Jun 2005 09:54:12 -0500, "Dukester"
wrote:

I have this tank in my basement that I can't figure out what it is for.
Possibly a water softener, or filter. It's starting to leak (probably
from
rust), but I don't know what it is to replace! Can you identify? It's
from
the early 80's probably.

I'd post the picture here but that's a usenet no-no.

No this isn't a spam/junk/send me money link.

http://www.geocities.com/dukes909/mi...y/whatisit.htm

Cheers!
Duke


Weird. No maintenance friendly fixtures. Too big to be a (water)
pressure vessel. The pipe with a cock valve going to the tank bottom
will likely be the water IN pipe. Why not reconnect the pipes to
bypass the tank and see what happens. It a lot easier and better to
do this now before that leak becomes a real problem.

Dukester wrote:
I have this tank in my basement that I can't figure out what it is for.
Possibly a water softener, or filter. It's starting to leak (probably from
rust), but I don't know what it is to replace! Can you identify? It's from
the early 80's probably.

I'd post the picture here but that's a usenet no-no.

No this isn't a spam/junk/send me money link.

http://www.geocities.com/dukes909/mi...y/whatisit.htm

Cheers!
Duke

My first (and only) GUESS would be that it is an ancient pressure tank
left over from years ago. Why they didn't bypass and remove it when the
new pressure tank was installed I have no clue, but I would bet that you
could just bypass it and everything would work fine.

Actually, I am sure that my parents had one of these in their cellar
about a zillion years ago and it remained there, although not connected,
even after they got city water.

Don

"Eric Tonks" etonks@sunstormADD-DOT-COM wrote in message
anews.com...
It looks like an old pressure tank from a previous pump and tank
installation. It looks much like the tank my parents had with a piston
pump
for their well in the 1950s. Probably when they changed over they decided
to
keep it in the system to hold extra water, or to maybe use it as a sand
trap

*snip*

Not likely to apply here, but back before getting fully involved in digital
photography, I used a tank like this as a settling tank for sand particles.
It only served my darkroom - the sand wasn't a problem elsewhere in the
house.

According to PaPaPeng :
Too big to be a (water) pressure vessel.

On the contrary - before bladder-style tanks, seeing
pressure tanks this size isn't at all unusual.

Given the plumbing arrangement, I'll bet there used
to be a pump there.

Red sandy stuff inside? Could this be an old fashioned
permanganate tank used for removing dissolved iron? If the
stuff hasn't been replenished in _years_, it's not doing anything.

Is one of those lines direct from the pump?

The pipe with a cock valve going to the tank bottom
will likely be the water IN pipe. Why not reconnect the pipes to
bypass the tank and see what happens. It a lot easier and better to
do this now before that leak becomes a real problem.

I'd drain and bypass the thing, and see what happens too.
--
Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.

"Chris Lewis" wrote in message
...
According to PaPaPeng :
Too big to be a (water) pressure vessel.

On the contrary - before bladder-style tanks, seeing
pressure tanks this size isn't at all unusual.

Given the plumbing arrangement, I'll bet there used
to be a pump there.

Red sandy stuff inside? Could this be an old fashioned
permanganate tank used for removing dissolved iron? If the
stuff hasn't been replenished in _years_, it's not doing anything.

Is one of those lines direct from the pump?

Yes, the bottom line comes directly from the pump outside.

In article , "Dukester" wrote:
I have this tank in my basement that I can't figure out what it is for.
Possibly a water softener, or filter. It's starting to leak (probably from
rust), but I don't know what it is to replace! Can you identify? It's from
the early 80's probably.

http://www.geocities.com/dukes909/mi...y/whatisit.htm

Looks like a sediment trap to me.

The water on the floor isn't necessarily a leak: it could be condensation.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

"Dukester" wrote
in message ...
"Chris Lewis" wrote in
message
...
According to PaPaPeng :
Too big to be a (water) pressure vessel.

On the contrary - before bladder-style tanks, seeing
pressure tanks this size isn't at all unusual.

Given the plumbing arrangement, I'll bet there used
to be a pump there.

Red sandy stuff inside? Could this be an old
fashioned
permanganate tank used for removing dissolved iron?
If the
stuff hasn't been replenished in _years_, it's not
doing anything.

Is one of those lines direct from the pump?

Yes, the bottom line comes directly from the pump
outside.


I'm going to join those who mentioned permanganate tank
to remove sediments and "treat" extremely hard water.
If it's what my sister had on their farm, which looked
a lot like it, it was supposed to be backwashed every
once in awhile, almost like a pool's sand filter. The
original well was only ab out 35' deep, hand dug and
stoned (stones cemented on sides to keep it from
falling in). When it rained every faucet strainer in
the house would fill up and the amount of "rust" that
poured out of it when they cleaned it was amazing. I
don't recall the exact process, but there were two
levers to flip to back-wash it, and the backwash
actually just flushed out onto the floor. I seem to
recall some sort of a "block" of something they'd stick
into it too, but no ideas what it was now. I was only
a teen back then.
About a year or so after buying the farm, they had a
real well dug, and thought they might be finding out
why the dug well since at a hundred feet they still
hadn't hit water. Then at 120' they ran into a river -
no more water problems! Well, except a terrible stink
from the gasses in it! G. The old well was barely
enough for 25 head but the new well supported the
family, inlaws, 6 kids, and 200+ head of dairy cattle!

Just my two cents & possibly inaccrate memories,

Pop

"Doug Miller" wrote in message
...

Looks like a sediment trap to me.

The water on the floor isn't necessarily a leak: it could be condensation.

If it is a trap, does one clean it out somehow? How?

In article , "Dukester" wrote:
"Doug Miller" wrote in message
m...

Looks like a sediment trap to me.

The water on the floor isn't necessarily a leak: it could be condensation.

If it is a trap, does one clean it out somehow? How?

I don't know if it needs to be cleaned out or not - presumably *eventually* it
would need it, but I have no idea how often.

I see what appears to maybe be a drain plug near the bottom left in your first
photo.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

"Dukester" wrote in message
...
I have this tank in my basement that I can't figure out what it is for.
Possibly a water softener, or filter. It's starting to leak (probably from
rust), but I don't know what it is to replace! Can you identify? It's from
the early 80's probably.

I'd post the picture here but that's a usenet no-no.

No this isn't a spam/junk/send me money link.

http://www.geocities.com/dukes909/mi...y/whatisit.htm

Cheers!
Duke


This is Turtle.

I have listen to all the post here and i just must be missing something here.
That's got to be a Pump Tank.

That is a pump tank used on water wells to acculate a volume of water with just
a air bubble the water well will presurize it and the pressure switch must be
made into the pump outside to cut it off when you get your water pressure up
high enough. Now it does have a 3" cap to maybe install a blatter to keep the
air bubble in the top. It will work with or without. Now if your doing away with
it , I need one on my camp right now.

TURTLE

According to TURTLE :

"Dukester" wrote in message
...
I have this tank in my basement that I can't figure out what it is for.
Possibly a water softener, or filter. It's starting to leak (probably from
rust), but I don't know what it is to replace! Can you identify? It's from
the early 80's probably.

I'd post the picture here but that's a usenet no-no.

No this isn't a spam/junk/send me money link.

http://www.geocities.com/dukes909/mi...y/whatisit.htm

This is Turtle.

I have listen to all the post here and i just must be missing something here.
That's got to be a Pump Tank.

That was everybody else's first guess, but the fact that it does have a 3" cap,
and is, according to him, filled with a reddish sandlike substance, is suggestive
that it's an old style permanganate[1] iron filter. These days they look
somewhat like smallish single-tank water softeners.

There were all sorts of old equipment it _could_ have been, like a non-bladder
style pressure tank or aerator, but the reddish stuff seems pretty definitive.

[1] Potassium permanganate is purple. But in poor light after absorbing
years worth of iron, I'll accept red ;-)
--
Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.

I have this tank in my basement that I can't figure out what it is
Possibly a water softener, or filter.
http://www.geocities.com/dukes909/mi...y/whatisit.htm

My guess would be a filter of some type. A pressure tank normally has a
single connection, while your tank has an inlet and outlet (not sure which
is which). So, water is passing "through" the tank, which indicates a
filter to me.

In any case, whether it's a filter or water softener of some type, if it's
really 20+ years old I doubt it's doing much of anything. I'd just remove
it completely.

If you're concerned about water quality, you could replace it with a whole
house water filter. I have one on our well to keep rust and sediment out of
the house lines. It works well, but it's a maintenance issue.

Anthony

"HerHusband" wrote in message
...
I have this tank in my basement that I can't figure out what it is
Possibly a water softener, or filter.
http://www.geocities.com/dukes909/mi...y/whatisit.htm

My guess would be a filter of some type. A pressure tank normally has a
single connection, while your tank has an inlet and outlet (not sure which
is which). So, water is passing "through" the tank, which indicates a
filter to me.

In any case, whether it's a filter or water softener of some type, if it's
really 20+ years old I doubt it's doing much of anything. I'd just remove
it completely.

If you're concerned about water quality, you could replace it with a whole
house water filter. I have one on our well to keep rust and sediment out
of
the house lines. It works well, but it's a maintenance issue.

Anthony


Looks like a storage tank for a tankless water heater in a commercial
building. However, there are no gas lines, no electrical lines, and no
other visible openings to change a filter.

It's a filter . The back flow was probably removed during the new
installation
1.66 cents (euros)

Vlad

On Thu, 9 Jun 2005 19:46:55 -0500, "Mike Dobony"
wrote:


"HerHusband" wrote in message
. ..
I have this tank in my basement that I can't figure out what it is
Possibly a water softener, or filter.
http://www.geocities.com/dukes909/mi...y/whatisit.htm

My guess would be a filter of some type. A pressure tank normally has a
single connection, while your tank has an inlet and outlet (not sure which
is which). So, water is passing "through" the tank, which indicates a
filter to me.

In any case, whether it's a filter or water softener of some type, if it's
really 20+ years old I doubt it's doing much of anything. I'd just remove
it completely.

If you're concerned about water quality, you could replace it with a whole
house water filter. I have one on our well to keep rust and sediment out
of
the house lines. It works well, but it's a maintenance issue.

Anthony


Looks like a storage tank for a tankless water heater in a commercial
building. However, there are no gas lines, no electrical lines, and no
other visible openings to change a filter.