[Strawbale] hot water holding tanks

[Speireag Alden]

On 2008, Jan 26, at 13:24, Rob Tom wrote:

> A thought that has occurred to me but one I've note yet implemented  
> is to
> make hot water holding tanks out of the tempered glass panels from
> diverted-from-the-wastestream patio door insulating glass units  
> (IGU) that
> have been discarded due to failed edge seals.
>
> They can be joined at the edges using a high-grade silicone  
> caulking, in
> the same manner that fish aquaria are constructed.
>
> The glass is typically only 4 to 6 mm thick, which is relatively  
> thin for
> such large sheets of glass and when stood on end configured as a water
> tank, there could be issues with the glass bowing out a bit so  
> there would
> likely need to be a restraint system devised that would not create
> concentrated stresses that would cause the glass to break.

     Many years ago, I custom-made a tank for my turtle, out of  
plexiglas.  It turned out that the plexiglas was flexible enough that  
I needed corner brackets halfway up on all sides, drilled and bolted  
through, and coated with silicone.

     If you're going to put living things in the tank, you must use  
aquarium-grade silicone, which is more expensive.  Otherwise things die.

     Since drilling and bolting glass strikes me as an iffy  
proposition, I think that I'd cut wood, possibly 2x4, so that each  
piece extends past the face of the glass by four inches on each side,  
and then bolt through it, such that I had a square sort of collar all  
around the tank, at intervals, but especially at the bottom, where  
pressure will be greatest.

     I'm not sure what I'd floor it with.  Another sheet, cut, with  
the bracing running underneath and bolted into the first collar?

     Unless I definitely planned to keep livestock in it, it's  
probably not worth the trouble.  A plastic liner in a plywood box  
would be cheaper and easier, and less prone to leakage.

-Speireag.