www.TK560.com

[plasticfan]

I think I may have possibly found one or two tanks after almost 6 months of looking (insane)


....but I would like those of you who own water heater tanks for your vac tables to share some photos of your tank (as clearly as possible).


This will help those of us who are still potentially water heater challenged to eagle eye the correct type of tank rather than spend time chasing after a lead that isnt what we need.

"tank" you very much

plasticfan

[knightshade]

I'm not sure if a photo would help.

I've gutted the tank, so that only the inner tank remains.
That won't help you eyeball what the tank looks like as a whole.

[drcrash]

Plasticfan,

What is it that makes you think that the water heaters you find do not have steel tanks inside? (In a previous posting, you said something about them being "all fiberglass and copper" or something like that, but what makes you think the actual tank inside is not made of steel?)

My impression is that most water heater tanks are glass-, ceramic-, or polymer-lined steel, wrapped in two or three inches of fiberglass insulation and a thin sheet-metal housing. For a vacuum former, you can take off the outer housing and the fiberglass, and get rid of the actual heater, so that it's just a tank, and considerably smaller.

(I edited this post shortly after posting it, taking out something I'm not sure about... I'd misremembered some google results.)

[drcrash]

I'm wondering if there's a difference between gas, electric, and oil-fired water heater tanks.

All of the particular gas and electric water heater tanks I've found descriptions of have steel tanks. Some of the oil-fired ones have copper tanks.

There may be a regional difference thing going on. If you live somewhere that oil-fired water heaters are common, you may be more likely to come across copper tanks.

You live in the D.C. area, right? I seem to recall a water heater in Arlington that was oil-fired. Maybe that's the usual thing around there. Most places I've lived, everything's either gas or electric.

[Ratart]

Electric tanks allow you to easily remove the two heater coils as well as the anoid. These holes can be plugged with standard black iron plumbing plugs. Once all of the extras are removed you will have about 6 holes to plug. Use teflon tape to seal all threads

[crashmann]

Here's a link to my thread and my quest for a large vac tank. There's a couple of posts that could rival Dr. Crash!

http://tinyurl.com/yxgc83

The tank I'm using is a classic Sears electric water heater from the 60's or 70's. It's made from rather heavy gauge steel, and makes lots of crunching noises when you roll it around I got it through Freecycle, but the catch was I had to help the guy haul it up from the cellar of the house he is going to demolish.

I replaced all of the fittings on the tank (intake and output connections, and drain valve), and ol' Rusty has been working great for the past 9 months!



Good luck in your quest for the un-holey tank!

Charlie
TI-386

[jegner]

The tank Thurston James uses appears to be a gas hot water heater tank. The difference between it and an electric, the center of the tank has a hole, like a donut, right up the middle. This allows the exhaust to escape out the top. This might also be a good structrual design consideration, since it is a cylinder donut. I assume this is common among gas heated tanks? Never heard of a copper tank for modern hot water heating, but that should really transfer heat well!

IIRC 30 gallon tanks are about perfect in size vs. amount of stored vacuum needed for a 21.5x21.5 platen.

[knightshade]

I have a 30 gallon tank.

Once I disovered the small leak in the side of the platten and fixed it - I've been pretty happy with it.

And yes - it was a gas heated tank, and has the exhaust pipe up through the center.

[jegner]

I too have a small leak. I'm not sure how to go about fixing it, without major repairs.

[drcrash]