propane tanks
 

Anyone aware of a reason they can't be flushed and used to house potable water?

I've got something like 20 in various sizes that I'd like to use as reservoirs for heated water via a solar thermal panel. If not, it's cool, I'll get some hot water tanks as I find them.

Don't see why you couldn't. Rust may be an issue, however.

like the idea did not see anwhere in internet tho

why not use a fuel oil tank instead? personally, i wouldn't drink from it.

I would not drink from it but that is my personal preference since you do not know if there is any residue or any thing that might leach in to the water.

You could use them to store hot water and preheat the incoming water. Check out Ecofriendly DIY Home Projects if you have not been there they do a lot of that kind of stuff there.

Propane contains an odorant (ethyl mercaptan) so you can smell leaks. It is doubtful you can get that all out of the steel tanks so that you could drink the water without tasting that nastiness.

But I've never tried it...


HTH,

troy

I've used propane bottles (5 gal & 10 gal) for steam rocket motors before with great success. Some rust after awhile though, but not severe. I think they make rust inhibitors for car engines/cooling systems, so maybe a shot of that would work. It's in regular "antifreeze", but I think you can get a bottle of JUST the rust inhibitor. - maybe - You said you wanted them for thermal mass storage, not drinking, right?

Oh wait - just re-read your post. Potable water AND thermal mass? I wouldn't know about drinking out of them. I suppose if you washed them out real good, but - - - - - ??

I don't know if it works the same but water stored in my LPG tank has that funky LPG flavor...even if you wash it, store water in it to leach out chemicals, etc...

and i think i swallowed more than a few carcinogens when I tasted it

I would strongly recommend you use a good solvent, clean them out then buy some type of liner or a sealant you swish around in the tank. The sealer would need to be compatible with drinking water.

Gas tank prep before welding? - ADVrider

Then after all of this you would have tanks suitable for shower water and washing but I would not drink or use the hot water as potable as the compounds in propane are much like gasoline in that they are never really gone.

For a shower or rinse water the qty of these materials will be minimal enough that your probably won't care or notice (yes I have taken a shower in water that had a slight gasoline smell once before, my skin didn't dry out and nothing really happened)

The key here would be to bring the water to be tested (yes you can do that, sometimes your local government offices will do it "moderately" cheaply because of subsidies and worries about water quality. key would be you would have to bring the sample to them not them to you. Then if it passes drink away, otherwise showers and rinse water is about it.

Cheers
Ryan

Take look into the common closed loop solar thermal system. A heat exchanger is used so that the heat transfer fluid from the outside tank never comes into direct contact with the water being used indoors; the propane tanks could easily be used for storage of warmed ethylene glycol in this manner.

This is an excellent article from an excellent resource on the topic. Closed-Loop Solar Hot Water | Home Power Magazine