Update on water tanks

I just got back from my personal challenge of scrapping the community water tanks. I have been viewing posts, but devoted all of my time over the last two months to the project instead of updates. Now that the challenge has been completed and I hauled the last load instead of being buried under it, I will update you on the process. Thank you to all of you that provided ideas and support.



First this is a history of my challenge and meant for entertainment, not educational purposes. Although some may benefit from some of my experiences, I am not an expert nor a professional in this type of work.

This was an enormous project with almost 70 tons of steel by the end. Completed in six and a half weeks by a one man crew with the help of one of my sons for one week. I did have additional help from the water district managers and several local farmers. They provided ideas and helped with certain challenges. I want to thank them for their help.

I will be posting this in a series of posts from start to finish. I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed completing the project.

The first step was to cut a door for my skid steer. At this point I was thinking it would make a great garage for the winter. Since it was ten miles away and I had no way to move it, this was not a reality. Notice the cast iron pipe. It connected to an upright pipe that was removed before work on the tank started. In addition, there were several magnesium rods hanging from the structure used to prevent hydroelectric static from creating pin holes in the tank. I am not a scientist, so if I am wrong please correct me.

This is a picture inside the water tank. The rust is from the support beams that long ago fell out. I was told employees of the water district roped them and pulled them down by hand. We started cutting on the top, but without the support beams it started to implode. Cutting through the rust was a major problem because you had to melt the rust while trying to cut the 1/4 in. metal.

I was cutting with oxygen and propane. I used liquid oxygen and two 100 lb. propane tanks. The liquid oxygen was equal to 17 k tanks and cost the same as three k tanks. I started with number 2 tips, moved to three, and ended up cutting with number 4 tips. The rust in the tanks not only forced a lot of tip cleaning, but ruined many tips. Another problem was created later in the project when cutting the water filters. They were filled with sand and this did a lot of damage to the tips as well.

Thanks for the pics.

It is really a big job.

I will be following your posting.

Since the tank started to implode when I started to cut from the top I decided I wanted to be on the ground when the personality of the tank was exposed. I started cutting on the northwest side of the tank. I cut five foot high in 18 in. sections working around the tank. I got this idea from responses to my original post. I made it about 1/3 of the way around the tank before it started acting funny. My son was with me by this point and he was look out as I continued to cut. I had my foot against the tank so I could feel it when I was cutting. All of a sudden the tank gave way and fell throwing me about five foot away. Lost a torch hose and a pair of underwear, but still have ten fingers and toes. This picture is of the tank after falling over. Notice the edges of the tank are buried in the ground, a challenge to be dealt with later.

Back to the main tank we decided to start cutting off the back side where the steel was not under stress. This picture shows my son attaching cable to the top. We attached cable on the top on both sides and returned the boom lift. The boom lift was rented for a week when we were going to start cutting on the top. Our plan was to cut as high on the back side as we could and then pull the tank over to teeter totter it back and forth to the ground. This is when my son had to return to work, so it was a one man show from this point on with the advice and insight of the water district managers and local farmers.

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This is a picture of me cutting the front side of the tank just before it fell. I had my left foot on the tank with my back to it when it cut loose. You can see the chain attached to the front of the tank and the chain hanging from the back on the ground.

Awesome Thread...Thanks!

Very nice bunch of picks. Thanks for sharing.

I look forward to more photos. Its an impressive undertaking for one guy. Mike.

Update on the loader. It was in the trees for the last 3-5 years. When it was parked it did not have steering, brakes, or any hydraulic power. I was told to scrap it. I spent the winter working on it and although it does not run perfectly, it finished the job and I have learned a lot about engines and machinery in the process. I paid scrap price for it plus all of the parts for repairs. Several farmers provided advice and in the end it is a work horse. Today I spent working on the ring wall that held the water tank. I have dug to the base and will rent a jack hammer to bust the ring wall. Inside is 6 ft. of gravel 40 ft. in diameter. This will be used to resurface the drive way at my ranch. Once I have created an opening in the ring wall I will use the loader to fill dump trucks to haul to my place. The deal I have with a farmer, I load, he hauls, and we split the gravel. This was another bonus along with the cedar tongue and groove that I earned from the project.

This picture is just before the tank collapsed. That is me in the picture with my workhorse 7.3 diesel. Notice the pipe opening opposite of the picture. I should have posted this before. Also you can see the chain hooked to the pick up. I always had two anchors chained up and many times as many as four for safety. I have a 2000 F-350, 85 2500, 80 F-150, loader, and skid steer to chain up to. I must also point out this is not a recommendation on how to scrap a water tank it is only my story. When I researched the project I found out professional companies would be charging $ 50,000 plus to do the project and they would keep all of the steel. One company charged $ 60,000 and kept the steel to demolish a neighboring water tank. They completed their project in 36 hrs. while it took me six weeks. The best price this community had was $ 30,000 plus the steel before I made my bid. I use the land lease agreement - 1/3 owner, 2/3 to myself and I pay all expenses. Some one said it was crazy for a one man crew, not as crazy as the deal I made.

The pictures show the early stages of cutting up the south side in order to teeter totter it back and forth to cut the wings. I was able to cut more, but unable to pull the weight off the wings. New challenge to the problem.

In the fore ground is the gravel base the tank sat on prior to pulling it over - next post. You can see the northwest wall of the tank resting on the edge of the ring wall in the center of the picture. I was able to take eight feet off this wall at this point.