Best tool for cutting up a steel water tank

stiofanD

Quick question - I've recently replaced the old galvanised steel water tank in the attic with a plastic one. Unfortunately, the old tank is too big to fit out the trapdoor!

Whats the best tool for cutting the tank up? Would an angle grinder do the job, or should I stick to a hacksaw?

Thanks for the info!

mazza

I cut up a water tank in the attic not so long ago for exactly the same reason. Its a nasty job - esp as our house is built under the eaves with not enough room to stand up, no room to get around old tank - but is do-able...

I used a combination of an electric jigsaw fitted with blades for cutting metal and a drill with metal bit. Basically, I drilled a few holes to allow the jigsaw blade to be fitted in and started cutting. At times, when the space was too tight for the jigsaw, I'd drill a dozen or so holes maybe a centimetre apart and cut the metal between them with a snips.

Its dog-hard work - very noisy, dirty and tiring as you have to keep the tank / braced at all times to keep it from cutting. Use ear plugs, good dust mask, replace the saw blades often and probably expect to destroy the jigsaw as they really aren't made for this purpose. You might want to try an angle grinder or another type of saw - the name escapes me, but it had an open blade about a foot long - which t'Internet says will do the job better. I didn't use it as it looked to dangerous for use in confined spaces! Also watch out for sparks from the cutting, dampen anything flamable.

One tip I'd give you is to think carefully about where you should make the cuts. The four vertical edges of ours were crimped together and therefore very hard to cut but would allow the structure to be weakened if removed. I made eight vertical cuts (one on either side of the uprights) and was then able to fold the four sides in on each other so it was far lower in height and was able to clear the trapdoor. Tank wasn't too heavy to get down, but I'd take care and have at least two people involved.

You may well find an easier way that this if you have a bit more space and can get the right gear to do it quicker as I spent far too long doing this I think.

Let me know if you need any more advice and I'll try to help...hope this helps.

johnnyrotten

:eek: :eek: DON'T use an angle grider - The risk of fire is too great. If a fire starts in your attic you will not stop it!:eek: :eek:

Personally I would leave it up there and forget about it. Maybe use it to store Xmas decorations;)

Avns1s

johnnyrotten wrote:

:eek: :eek: DON'T use an angle grider - The risk of fire is too great. If a fire starts in your attic you will not stop it!:eek: :eek:

Personally I would leave it up there and forget about it. Maybe use it to store Xmas decorations;)

I agree, leave it there unless there is some other reason to take it down.

There is one in the attic of my parents house for the past 25 years!!

stiofanD

thanks for the responses guys. I really need to get rid of it since the attic is relatively small and the tank is taking up a lot of usable space. I appreciate the info all the same!

Corkey123

I'd recommend a careful cut with an angle grinder, Just be careful when you position youself as there will be sparks. As was already said it is a fire hazard. I did my own recently and there was plenty of sparks alright but taking precautions will allow you to do it.

mazza

If possible do leave the tank up there if possible, but its hard to appreciate how much space and trouble a redundant tank can take if the attic is small.

We had two old water tanks in our attic (one which had just bust). When we were getting it replaced, I asked the plumbers to take both down. Obviously this was too much fuss so they took one down and then put in the new water tank, blocking in the second old tank completely. :mad:

As if it wasn't enough to have only 1m of headroom in the attic, the tank was now blocking access completely, hence it had to go and cutting was the only way.

One other thing to watch out for is that I heard some very old style water tanks had some kind of an asbestos lining which would obviously not be good to cut! I'm not sure exactly how to identify this - ours "looked" safe enough, but fingers crossed...

stapeler

Avoid the angle gringer at all costs!! Get a jig saw or a reciprocating saw with a metal blade.

is_that_so

Are you sure it won't fit? We thought the same in my mothers' house but once we actually measured it :rolleyes: and took off the ladder it came out no problem.

wyndham

Sounds like a nightmare job. Is there much gunk at the bottom of the tank? Cut up one of these about a year ago but it was outdoors on the ground. The brown/red sh1t that came out of it was unreal. Wouldn't have fancied bringing it across carpets, etc.

stiofanD

In the end, I decided to leave the tank up there and shove it under the eaves as far as it would go. There was enough other junk to remove from the attic (most from the previous owners of the house!) without me worrying about the tank.

I figure, if we ever decide to convert the attic, it can come out then.