[Greenbuilding] A Solar Hot Tub

[Rob Tom]

On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 08:40:07 -0400, Nick Pine <nick at early.com> wrote:

> Dan writes:
>
>>> You mentioned a storage tank selling for $100. Is that in US dollars?
>>> What brand and where/how can one buy?
>
> Tractor Supply sells their 21-77227 2'x6'x2'-deep 169 gallon oval  
> galvanized stock tank for $108.78.

[nerdy stuff <snipped>]

and in another post

> add some calcium chloride


Up here in MooseLand in winter, in some well-to-do municipalities, calcium  
chloride is sometimes used as a designer road salt (ie CaCl is more  
expensive than plain old road NaCl).

Any road salt, whether it be the designer or poor man's salt has a nasty  
habit of eating metal (ie automobile frames & bodies ... I'm told by an  
engineer at a plant that makes fire engines and truck boxes that aluminum  
doesn't seem to fare much better than steel), killing vegetation that is  
is subject to the briny road spray, destroying reinforced concrete and  
rotting leather footwear.

That is to say, a galvanised steel stock tank filled with a calcium  
chloride brine solution can likely be expected to rust out and spring  
leaks at some point, sooner rather than later, so it's probably prudent  
not to locate it somewhere where a 169 gallon flood wouldn't be welcome.

OTOH, four sheets of tempered glass, salvaged from 2 discarded patio door  
thermal pane IGUs, stood up on end to make a square tube (you're on your  
own for the base) would make a storage tank that is chemically-inert,  
corrosion-proof , less costly than a stock tank, easier to insulate and  
has a smaller footprint (physically as well as ecologically) to boot (pun  
intended).


-- 
=== * ===
Rob Tom
Kanata, Ontario, Canada
< A r c h i L o g i c  at   C h a f f Y a h o o  dot  C a  >
(winnow the chaff from my edress in your reply)