Dismantling a Milk Cooling Tank (Bulk Tank) perhaps OT...

lastcowboy32

Well-known Member
We have a very old bulk tank in the milkhouse of our farm.

At one point, we were going to use it, but our plans have changed.

Based on my experience with looking into getting parts (covers, discharge ports, etc), it would seem that I'm not going to get much if I try to sell it as a tank. Plus, doing so would require us to tear out a wall that we have recently built.

To me, what I would like to do, is to save the cooling unit (I'm considering using it to run a small "meat locker" style cooler.) and cut up the tank itself for scrap; while perhaps saving a few pieces to make a barbecue.

What would be the most efficient way to cut this up?

Sawzall?
Circular saw?

What kind of blades would be most efficient?

Some other method?

I've read that a torch doesn't work well on stainless steel.

Thoughts?
 
I"d look into selling it intact. For years, a local dealer bought up tanks throughout the state, and sent them to Mexico, with or without the cooling units. Depending on the style, like an open top, they are in demand for fish farms. Also, some farmers might use them for sprayer tanks. As a cooler for a meat locker, it would have to be sized accordingly.
 
What Brand of Tank is it? Mueller, Zero, Dairy Cool, Girton? How many gallons? What is the age of the tank? Model Number? Serial Number? Has the tank ever had an internal refrigerant leak?

For years in Vermont used tanks were bought for Maple Sap Storage. The going price is between 1.00 to 1.50 per gallon. Some of the smaller producers still use them, but the big guys don't because they are tough to clean. Some of the Zero tanks are still in big demand because they are used on vacuum systems.

As for scrapping the tank. Cutting stainless is not easy unless you have a plasma cutter. Cutting it with a plasma is going to create toxic gases as you cut through the insulation. Abrasives are expensive. I'd check the price of scrap stainless & copper before cutting it apart for scrap. It is going to take a lot of work, time and materials to to to this. It may cost more to take it apart than it is worth in scrap, prices are way down right now.

I worked as a buyer broker & demolition estimator for a scrap yard for 7 years. If you can't sell it whole, you'd be better off to load it on a trailer and take what the scrap yard will pay. Too much work, chance of getting hurt for the return of taking it apart.
 
(quoted from post at 18:34:01 09/30/15) What Brand of Tank is it? Mueller, Zero, Dairy Cool, Girton? How many gallons? What is the age of the tank? Model Number? Serial Number? Has the tank ever had an internal refrigerant leak?

For years in Vermont used tanks were bought for Maple Sap Storage. The going price is between 1.00 to 1.50 per gallon. Some of the smaller producers still use them, but the big guys don't because they are tough to clean. Some of the Zero tanks are still in big demand because they are used on vacuum systems.

As for scrapping the tank. Cutting stainless is not easy unless you have a plasma cutter. Cutting it with a plasma is going to create toxic gases as you cut through the insulation. Abrasives are expensive. I'd check the price of scrap stainless & copper before cutting it apart for scrap. It is going to take a lot of work, time and materials to to to this. It may cost more to take it apart than it is worth in scrap, prices are way down right now.

I worked as a buyer broker & demolition estimator for a scrap yard for 7 years. If you can't sell it whole, you'd be better off to load it on a trailer and take what the scrap yard will pay. Too much work, chance of getting hurt for the return of taking it apart.

The tank is an off brand, not one of the ones listed above. I tried to find a lid for it last fall. I called all over the US to various bulk tank scrapyards and such. No dice.

It's 375 gallons. So someone giving me 500 bucks for it (assuming the 1.50 per gallon mentioned above) would cost me the teardown of a wall and a hundred bucks to hire my friend and his pallet loader. A wash.

The last time that I checked, clean stainless was brining 40cents a pound around here. It has to weigh at least a thousand pounds; so I would stand to get 400 bucks for scrap, at least.

I know that it would be labor to dismantle it.

If a plasma cutter would produce toxic fumes, what about cutting it with a sawzall and just biting the bullet to buy a bunch of really good blades?
 
Cutting stainless with a sawzall will not work very well at all, I've tried it. It can be cut with an angle grinder and cutting discs but it will take a stack of them to do the job and will take a long time.
 
(quoted from post at 06:20:34 10/02/15) Cutting stainless with a sawzall will not work very well at all, I've tried it. It can be cut with an angle grinder and cutting discs but it will take a stack of them to do the job and will take a long time.

I know, nothing that I do will be easy.

If I had the metalworking ability, I would try to convert it to a cheese vat, since that's what we're doing.

I'm almost afraid to talk to the local shop that works with stainless to ask how much that would cost.

Right now, it's just a big white elephant taking up space in the milkhouse that we're renovating.
 

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