Supertank Structural Rainwater Tank
Supertanks are not yet in production so we are unable to provide additional information or pricing at this time. Please contact us to be added to the mailing list and we will contact you as soon as more information is available.
Get ready to change the way you think about rainwater tanks!
The Supertank slimline water is the ONLY fully- flat faced, modular, structural water tank. Sounds like a mouthful but what that means is that individual tanks fit together to form a completely flat wall, like a concrete wall. It can then be painted, rendered or simply left ‘natural’ grey colour. Because it is a modular system you can store any volume of water you need by simply connecting the tanks together.
The Supertank is designed and owned by two Australian architects in response to need to make a water tank both highly functional without sacrificing good looks or valuble space.
The real benefit of the Supertank is that it is two products in one; It is both a water tank and a building material. The tank(s) can be used instead of traditional building materials like brickwork, stud walls or concrete to build load bearing walls suitable for supporting typical building loads like a roff or lightweight floor.
The product is currently undergoing structural certification so we recommend using it ONLY AS A NON- STRUCTURAL WALL at this time (ie: a panel between structural columns). We hope to have it fully certified within a few months.
Supertank Slimline Structral Rainwater Tank
The individual water tanks are 600mm long x 300mm wide. The standard height is 2.4m but it can be ordered in any height from 1m to a maximum of 5m High.
- Replaces traditional building materials such as brick, stud walls and concrete
- Faster and easier to install than traditional materials
- Saves space- Water tank and wall structure are combined in one system
- Saves money- No need to pay for a wall and separate tank
- Suitable for new or retrofit applications
- Available in any height up to 5m high
- Composite material is termite and insect proof
- Will not crack, warp, bend, rust or rot
- Quick and simple to install.
- Excellent resistance to bush fires, cyclones and earthquakes
- Saves mess and wastage on construction sites
- Can be painted, lined, rendered, clad or left blank
- Comes flat packed for easy and economical transportation
- Lightweight and easy to move with 1 person
- Save money on water bills- Store as much water as needed
- Excellent passive solar design potential as thermal mass
- Good acoustic properties when full or empty
- Recyclable, reuseable and transportable
For example you can build a 6 x 6 garage and use Supertanks as the walls. This would give you 30 tanks of approximately 400L each for a total of 12000L. At $300 per tank it would cost approximately $9000 which is competitive with what you pay to have it built from brick. It would take you about 1 day to erect the Supertanks (compared to about 1 week or or more for bricks)
Here are just some of the typical uses of the Supertank Water tanks
- Garages/ Sheds
- External walls
- Internal walls
- Boundary and screen walls
- Retaining walls
- Marine and coastal areas
- Temporary/ transportable housing
- Remote and rural buildings
- Grey water storage (with a suitable system)
- Storm water storage
- Non- structural, space saving water tank (retrofit)
- Diagram of a Supertank system alongside an existing wall
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
We will be building in just over a year. This is exactly what I’m looking for. Please let me know when your product is ready.
Cheers
Eric
I am building in Bali; will you ship there. This sounds really good and exactly like what I’m looking for.
Cheers, Bob
Hi Bob- The tanks are not available yet sorry so it will depend on when you would like to build. We have no problem shipping to bali but the costs might be expensive. I know a lot of ships export furniture and stuff from there so there might be a good rate on the back load to Bali
Do you have to heat it in the winter? or will I have ice walls on the inside. Im not quite understanding the thermal properties of the device. How do I nail up a picture on wall?
I’m assuming you live in a freezing climate during winter? If so there are several solutions: Firstly water has a large thermal mass like concrete or brickwork. Thermal mass is the material’s ability to store heat energy. This principle is an important factor in environmental design as it can keep a home warm in winter by allowing sun to heat the walls and then release it during the night, or vice- versa in summer by shading the walls to keep them as cool as possible and regulate the temperature inside.
Water and Superwalls have a great advantage when it comes to thermal mass because the water can be transferred from various places. Unlike concrete a concrete wall which is in a fixed position, the water in superwalls can be pumped to improve the heating or cooling properties. For example the water could be run through a solar array on the roof to heat it during the day to help warm the home (or keep the water from freezing).
To answer your question, it is possible the water could freeze during winter depending on your climate, but if you intended to use it as an external wall then I would recommend a pump to utilise the passive solar heating benefits of the tanks and also prevent them freezing.
To answer your other question about nailing pictures to the wall, any fixings or penetrations need to made either in the ‘dry cell’ ( the area where there is no water) or made above the water line. Alternatively you could hang things from the top like a picture rail
The thermal mass retention is based on the material that is used to contain the water. Fiberglass and poly tanks above ground have no retention. Therfor the temperature of the water inside the tank greatly depends on the weather and placement of the tank. The galvanized tank systems I install have an absolutely unmatched ability to retain heat and cool. I live in the desert southwest and with the galvanized tanks I can walk up in the middle of summer and the tank will be cool to the touch and in the winter it feels warm. It keeps a consistent temperature of about 72 degrees.
Regarding the structure tank system (which is an absolutely great idea), I noticed the top of the tank has the structure on it but I did not see a manway or other access point to service it, in case of failure. How can you access the tank system?
Thanks!
Justin
hi
I’m doing an assignment for environment building class and i was just wondering what sort or U or R value you would rate this wall if empty and full? and i was wondering would you compare this structure lets say to double brick in turns of building the footings for the building?
We expect the R value to be around 4 or 5, possibly better (bet yet to be confirmed unfortunately). The empty tanks acts like a large cavity wall while the full tank would have a large thermal mass and limit any heat energy transfer.
The weight would be slightly more than double (solid) brick when full. Water is 1kg/ L, and the width is 300mm. So just multiply that by your length and height to get your volume and approximate dead load
PS: Sorry for the late reply but you were spammed for some reason- Good luck!
can these walls pick up roof loads?
The idea is that they will support a roof or possibly a floor above depending on the final strength of the tanks
Can you estimate when the superwall product we be available for sale to the public and when will be able to get a structural diagram of the product. I am interested in using this product as boundary fence and to store rainwater. If you were using this superwall product for boundary fence how many 600mm wide panels can you use before you need to have a support post
I was just have a few questions about the superank;
- do u believe the supertank will be able to be used as a structural wall in a years time?
-wat materials are the supertank made of (mainly polymers)?
-would you be able 2 have a “truth window” or a way to see the water level?
-The tanks will be suitable for load bearing purposes however we need to do long term testing before we can approve it for this use. You can imagine the consequences if there was a problem that we overlooked and thousands of homes had to be rebuilt. They will be fine for non- structural use in the meanwhile where a column is located every 3 metres or so.
- They are made from a composite of recycled plastics, virgin plastics and fiberglass. I can’t tell you exactly what they are made from at this time
-We don’t intend to have a ‘truth window’ because a) any light getting into the tank encourages algal growth and b) it would be difficult for us to manufacture. A range of gauges are available to show tank levels
Thanks for your questions
I liked the Supertank slimline, this flat faced thing is very interesting.
the product sounds great, but what if you want a window in the wall? Can the tanks accommodate this or does it have to be an uninterrupted length? cheers
The tanks link together at ground level with standard plumbing fittings and pipe. To install a door or window you simply extend the pipe so that it links up with the next tank. The pipe can be concealed within the slab or underground for a doorway, or within the cavity or studwall for a window.
Brilliant thats all i can say, gets me why this wasnt done years ago, please give me an update on your progress, cheers
Thanks for your comments Justin but I beg to differ. The thermal mass is the water, not the material of the tank. The material of the tank will affect how quickly the water will absorb and release heat but has very little thermal mass on it’s own. Your galvanised tank will work well to reflect the heat and slow the rate that heat is absorbed, whereas a dark plastic tank would absorb heat a lot quicker. The surface remains cool to touch because the huge thermal mass of the water takes a lot of energy to heat up, and is much cooler than the outside. Think of a swimming pool; it remains cool even after many hot days and that is not even covered like the water in a tank. Big tanks will also take a lot longer to heat up than small, slimline tanks with a relatively large surface area compared to the volume
To answer your question about the inspection hatch for servicing: Obviously it is a serious problem if it ‘fails’. It would be like bricks or concrete failing, and as the material is stronger than both of these materials we don’t expect the tank to fail. Furthermore there is strict quality control to ensure each tank is checked. It is possible that a tank could leak if it was damaged by a car or accidentally drilled into. This would cause a leak which can be repaired if required. As far as maintenance goes the only maintenance required would be to treat polluted water or remove sediment. Sediment can be drained from the bottom outlets if required and any treatments can be added through the inlets or overflow ports