"Staycalm" writes:
What about rainwater tanks in urban areas? What's involved with fitting a
small tank to the house? Are there companies who do this? i.e. not just
deliver a tank to your door.
Who here has one? Do you use it a lot?

Why not employ your favourite plumber? It would probably be cheaper. Or
get your plumber to arrange everything from buying to installing the tank.
A rural friend ordered a tank from the manufacturer (Bushman, I think).
When it was delivered I helped the driver roll it in from the street and
tip it onto a base of packed sand I had prepared for the tank. The truck
driver quickly installed a bit of threaded pipe for the outlet where we
wanted it and then he drilled out a hole where we wanted the top overflow.
That's where his responsibility ended, the rest would be up to the new
owner's plumber.

There are so many shapes and sizes in poly tanks that I wouldn't feel
comfortable in leaving the choice up to someone else. I like to go over
a handful of brochures and make phonecalls to the manufacturer to make
sure I'm involved in the process. As well as the standard round shapes
you can get poly tanks that have a square cross-section and sit snugly
alongside a wall of your house, and others are like big flexible bags that
lie on the ground underneath your house.

If you plan to sit the tank directly on the ground and use a pressure pump
the manufacturer will have a brochure telling you how to prepare the area.
That is going to be a lot cheaper than getting a tank-stand built--but if
money is no object there's always the benefit of being able to construct a
room or shed under a substantial tank stand (provided your house is set
high so runoff can flow into the elevated tank).
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)