[VAC] Water tank leaks

[Terry Tyler <tylerbears@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

John, 

Bite the bullet and go with a plastic tank and a new Shur-flo pump.

There are beaucoup places selling plastic tanks, so be picky about getting
the correct size. Some places will even make the tank to order (your size).
Once you've established who you'll buy from, be very specific about where
you want the plastic connectors and their size.

I went so far as to send my old tank to the company selling the new one just
to confirm that the tank they were going to send me would be fully usable
right out of the box (no modifications). That provided them with hard
evidence of what I wanted, what I needed and what I would pay for. And
that's what I got. 

Secondly, while you're at it. If you don't have a sight tube whereby you can
see how much water is in your tank, now is the time to consider that. It can
make a difference in what you tell the company providing your new tank.

Only you can determine where you want the sight tube installed relative to
the area where your new tank will fit. Be sure to allow room enough for your
fingers to make the two connections once the tank is in place.  I used two
pieces of short, flexible, plastic tubing to bridge the gaps.

Thirdly, you may find (as I did), that the new tank has a larger capacity
(more gallons) than the one being replaced. That's a fringe benefit.

Bottom line. Take your time, organize and plan in excruciating detail,
ignore it a couple of days before returning to see if it still makes sense.
Purchase every single rinky dinky part you'll need before you buy the tank,
so there'll be no need to scramble up a Rube Goldberg at the last minute.
Rehearse the exact order for installing the new tank. Nine tenths of this
job is head work. 

You may want to look at Tom Patterson's 20,000+ archive postings sometime.
He has a slick search engine to simplify locating information.

Do what you teach/taught your kids to do. Apply a lot of attention to
detail, outline sequential organization and planning, give the job plenty of
thought before action and then relish in your success.

You'll be proud of your workmanship,

Terry
mailto:tylerbears@airstream.net