Weight of water

[nalah]

I'm sure that someone can help me on this one.
I need to calculate the approx. weight of water I have in my room. Don't want floor to cave in but i need another tank. Will my floor take it.

So what is the weight of 1 litre (0.264 US Gal) please.

[Ardan]

Hi Pascale,
Water is about 8 lbs / gal, 2 lbs/ liter, or about 1 kilogram/liter.

hth

[nalah]

thanks Ardan

thats a lot of weight then - about 800 kg of water.
Must say i'm a bit concerned about adding more weight. We rent this house so i cannot pull up floor to check but pretty sure it's wooden floor boards.

mmm! what to do

[ronrca]

Depends on how the stand is setup! Most floors can with stand quite a bit of weight because the stand distributes the weight instead of 'dead' weight on a specfic area.

[nalah]

Hi ronrca
the room is very narrow. only allowed half the room as the other half is needed for other purposes. so i cannot move things around.
i was wanting to get 2 racks,put them on opposite sides of the room.
at present,this is the layout- red lines = tanks and circle is 200L water drum.
don't laugh at my drawing..LOL

Hi,

also if you locate the tanks close to the walls will help.

alex

[henryD]

I think you should be ok. The closer to the wall you can get the better. They typically use additional support along the walls should so it should stand the additional weight. How much weight are you going to add? I have i 120 tank that is against the wall.

[ronrca]

Also, if you use 3 supports instead of 2 under the shelves/racks, it will distribute the weight over a bigger area also!

[sumptnfshy]

Most floors are designed to hold a large waterbed its occupants and various furniture, or about 750-1200 kilograms. You should be fine with the advice already given. If you still have concerns you can get the building codes for your area they will state the minimum requirements for how much weight your floor should safely support. Be sure that if you do research building codes that they are for the same time that your home was built.

One thing to consider with the waterbed theory though...is a water bed has a HUGE footprint to distribute the wieght.

One of the MAIN things that should be taken into consideration, is the direction of the floor joists underneath the stand. For the best support the joists should run perpendicular to the length of the stand.
If they run parallel to the length....even with joists 16" on center, you could theoretically be resting 800 kg on one floor joist. Not good....and depending on the age and house construction, that one floor joist could be as narrow as 6" wide.

Not trying to scare you Pascale....just a worst case scenario :-\

Tony

[April]

yes i was told to run the same way as the floor boards as the joists go the opposite way,.
and i also worked it out that a 100 gallon tank is about 1000 pounds..and you could imagine 5 200 pound adults standing in a small space admiring a painting on a wall. they would not fall through the floor. or...10 100 pound teenagers on a couch. they too would not fall through the floor. lol. we can only hope. but the plywood underneath the stands would also help.
Herb had ..some amazing number of tanks in his tiny rented house.....and its still standing. lol. right Herb?

[Smokey]

BUILD - BUILD - BUILD - BUILD - BUILD.

After all it is only a rental. ;D ;D ;D

seriously, just be sure the structure is in good shape ... they built the houses pretty tought back in the good ole days.
You don't want the house to TIP OVER.

Smokey

[nalah]

geez! i'm surrounded by canadians here......LOL
i leave the aussie thread to get away and see what happens.

back to business - cannot get under house in that section and cannot see under as its all bricked up.

Tony - thanks,you've scarred me.
April - plyboards sounds like a good idea. will look into that more.

btw Smokey. i'm at simplyangelfish now...find me...LOL

[Smokey]

Hmmm - sounds like a ''dare'' !
OOOO KKKKK.

Smokey