Earthquake strapping question.

I am moving a bladder pressure tank to four foot high platform. I am thinking I should probably do some type of holding system similar to what we do to the hot water tank. My hot water tank has two metal braces which go from the walls to the top of my tanks sheet metal without going into the actual water part of the tank. Looks like that won't work with the pressure tank. Is there any system that will work with my pressure tank to hold it against the wall to prevent a tip over?

Another question; is there some way of telling how long a bladder type pressure tank will last or how close to failure I am?

Thanks Mike.

I assume your doing this in case of flooding. If it is going to always be above the water line, why not use plumbers strap. It works well for lots of things like that. If it may go underwater, you can always drive your car up on top of it to keep it from floating away, cause the plumbers strap ain't gonna help.

bob...

You can put strapping around the body of the tank. Earthquake lateral forces are usually taken as something less than one times the force of gravity. If it is anywhere near that, the building will not survive.

You will be safe if you put straps around the tank near the top and bottom. They can be in contact with the tank. I would put them about 4" away from the curve at the end of the tank, on the cylinder part of the tank. They should be snug (not slack) but not so tight that they will crush the tank. Not more than 100 pounds of tension when installed.

The critical part is the attachment to the walls, which will be weaker than the strap itself.

Think about a nylon strap (stretchable is better than rigid) wrapped completely around the tank and then attached to studs on either side at about a 45 degree angle from the wall. You could use large screw eyes into the studs. If the tank is in a corner, attach it to adjacent walls at right angles and you will have the equivalent of 45 degrees for a tank on a straight section of wall.

You can test your installation by pushing on the top of the tank. It will move a little but you should not be able to push it over.