Upstairs Tanks?

[millie1]

e.g - 4 foot tank - upstairs.

How do you check for the weight etc?? Is it easy to do?

Im terrified of having a bigger tank upstairs in case it comes through the ceiling but dont know how to check???

and it only has that one place to go

suggestions?

 

[StandbySetting]

4 foot? You need to be more specific, we need a volume and dimensions so we can work out the Force that will be exerted on the area of floor, are you in the UK? Standard building regs here are 1.5KN per square metre.

 

[millie1]

i haven tbought it yet

but something around 4 foot long - 2 foot wide and 2 foot high??

 

[StandbySetting]

Well that will have a foot print of 1.2*0.6M or 0.72M[sup]2[/sup], a 1.2*0.6*0.6M tank will have a volume of 432L, 432L = 432Kg, or 4.234KN. 4.234KN/0.72M = 5.9KN per M[sup]2[/sup], way in excess of the building regulation guidelines.

 

[millie1]

ah. oh dear.

What would the max height/length etc i could have in regards to weight??

Thank you btw for working that out - im utterly clueless

 

[StandbySetting]

Well if you want a 4*2 foot print then 6 inches would really be your maximum height, which isn't ideal, as you have the mass of the tank to consider too, it's all very complicated as joist placement comes into play too, the tank must run perpendicular to the joists, and floor panels are better than boards, as they spread the mass over a larger area, a structural engineer will give you the best answer, but the 1.5KN guideline is a good one to use if you don't want to hire an engineer, the more joists that you can get the tank over the better.

 

[fishguy2727]

It is not as big of an issue as people think unless your house is under-built. Two fat people sleeping on a water bed next to a gun safe, yet we freak out about a 75 if it's not on the bottom floor.

 

[StandbySetting]

That's the thing, two fat people aren't sleeping there 24 hours a day, permanent and temporary loads are two very different things.

 

[zuulan]

This is an interesting Thread. Is there also restrictions on the ground floor of a house that has floorboards, UK too? I'd eventually want something over 400 ltr but I'm not sure if that's safe.

 

[StandbySetting]

The figure I quoted is the most recent regulation, older houses were built to withstand higher Force over a smaller area, but risking it isn't always a good idea, spreading Force across as many joists as possible is always recommendable, I live in a 20 year old house, I had a 125Kg tank which had a total mass of 190Kg, the force it was exerting on the floor was 1864N, the stand had a foot print of 80*36, which is 0.48M[sup]2[/sup], so I had 3.9KN per M[sup]2[/sup], but the stand my tank was on was on a floor panel with an area of 2.4*1.2M, so the total pressure exerted over 4 joists was 0.6472 KN per M[sup]2[/sup], which is well within the building regulations guidelines

 

[fishguy2727]

The water bed and gun safe stay there forever, the fat people are spreading out their load between the bed and couch...

Anyone EVER heard of a tank going through a floor?

 

[colleen0309]

The water bed and gun safe stay there forever, the fat people are spreading out their load between the bed and couch...

Anyone EVER heard of a tank going through a floor?

Not yet, but I sure wouldn't want to be the first one!

 

[Blubble37]

The water bed and gun safe stay there forever, the fat people are spreading out their load between the bed and couch...

Anyone EVER heard of a tank going through a floor?

my science teachers old one... 600 litres went through the roof - literally

 

[StandbySetting]

Floors tend to sag before a tank will go through, but the damage caused is expensive. Someone I used to work with had a 4*1.5*1.5 across 6 joists and that ruined the floor upstairs, which required joist replacement and that was in a new house.

 

[Blubble37]

science block got closed - for a YEAR!!!