Maintaining your stainless-steel tank

Some helpful tips for maintaining your water tank and keeping your water healthy and clean

• Ensure your gutters and roof are as clean as possible. If you’re in a high leaf area gutter guard is highly recommended.
• Check that your gutters are not sagging in spots, allowing water to sit. This stagnant water can breed mosquito larva that can be washed into your tank in the next big rainfall event.
• Inspect and clean your inlet strainer regularly. A clogged or blocked inlet strainer can cause overflowing and flooding, damaging your tank base and voiding warranty.
• Check your tank overflow plumbing to make sure it is securely attached and that it will direct water away from your tank base or into your stormwater.
• Remove any debris or stick and branches from your tank. If you're really keen give it a hose and remove any cob webs and marks to keep it looking great
• Check tank outlets and connections to your house or pump for signs of leaks. If you have an automatic pressure pump, stay by your tank for at least  minutes, ensuring no taps are used around your property etc and make sure your pump is not cycling on and off. If so, this means that you must have a slow leak somewhere. For example, if connected to your toilets, one of your toilets may have a slow leak. If this is occurring the pump will use a lot more power, turning on and off unnecessarily.
• Turn on the tap and judge if the pressure is the same as previous inspections. If you visibly notice a reduction in pressure, then there may be a blockage in your system
• Check your tank base to ensure it has not subsided, cracked or moved. If you notice a lean on your base, immediately drain the water and rectify, especially with slimline water tanks
• Check the water level to see if it corresponds with recent rainfall. For example, if it rained very recently and your tank is empty you could have a broken in-feed pipe, if it is a wet system. Alternatively, if your water tank never seems to empty and you have a mains water switching system, this could be faulty, so you are only using mains water.
• If your tank is adjacent to your house, ensure there is a good 50mm gap to your wall. The tank must not be touching the outside of your house and you should be able to inspect down the side with a torch. If there is debris build-up between your tank and house wall your can use some of your rainwater to clean it out. The main consideration here you do not want to have a hidden spot where termites may gain access to your house
• Do not store any objects on your tanks. The roof is strong and durable but not designed to take pot plants, garden tools or the like store on the top of the tank.
• Check every six months for sediment build up. Our tanks are designed to allow sediment build up to a certain point and the outlet fitting at the bottom of the tank is slightly raised to accommodate this. In fact, research has proven that the sediment builds up contains good bacteria that helps keep your water healthy and clean. A bit like the good bacteria in your gut. However, if the layer is more than 1 cm thick it might be time for a tank clean. We can recommend local tank cleaners to assist in this regard.
• While your checking inside your tank also give it a good smell / or smell the water at an outlet. If the water smells off or is discoloured this mean organic material is finding it way into your tank. Local the source of this, such as leaves in gutters etc and then once corrected you can add a tank purifier solution. Designer tanks stocked a product made by Davey for this purpose.