I’ve developed a spring for our water supply @ 11,000 ft in the mtns. of CO., the water flows into a settling tank then into a pump tank. Solar pump then pumps the water into other holding tanks buried near the house.
The problem is that I get a foot of ice in the settling and pump tanks in the winter and I’m going to build a shed of some kind to cover these two tanks. There is no power at this site (except for the solar pump). I’ve got leftover 7″ foam panels from roof that I could use to build a shed but would a greenhouse type shed work better? I’m open to suggestions here.
Replies
I'm thinking that a greenhouse style structure that size would drop well below freezing at night, even if it got to 90 in the day. Too little thermal mass, too little insulation. I would go with ICFs, SIPs, or strawbales. Maybe some insulated glass on the south side, but not too much. If it's insulated enough, the temperature of the water should keep things from freezing quickly.
zak
"so it goes"
Any chance you could get them underground? Build yourself a well insulated "vault" under the frost line?
"Let's get crack-a-lackin" --- Adam Carolla
No, part of the supply is surface run-off, can't bury the tanks.
1) price out a thermal blanket (like they use for swimming pools.
2) ground insulation, down to the freeze-line (this assumes the tank is back-filled with soil) will help a lot. If open, insulate the outside of the tank.
3) a green-house or other means of solar transmission/passive heat really works; but, beyond the 11K gals of water, you'll need some sort of mass to store the heat - piles of rocks, additional tanks of water, wet sand, ...
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario
IF you've got flowing water, that's providing heat. You just need to hold the heat in.