Here’s the situation – you have a perfectly good water tank, or at least it would be if the water pressure was better. The water tank is well maintained and in good condition.  The only drawback is it doesn’t supply enough water pressure to customers.  It would be expensive to buy a new tank but there are no other options out there.  Or so you think.

Tanks can be raised to provide better water pressure. Tanks can be lowered too if that is what is needed to maximize the tank’s effectiveness.  Pittsburg Tank & Tower Group specializes in tank modification, which includes raising and lowering tanks.

PTTG has raised hundreds of tanks over the years. – from a New Jersey tank that was boosted 20 feet to a pair of Indiana towers that were lifted as much as 35 feet by two cranes, to a Louisiana tank that received an additional 44 feet in height; to a Florida tower that was elevated by 54 feet.

Modifying tanks can help tank owners save money. How?  Well, think about what building a new water tank entails.  A property might need to be purchased, the foundation laid, a new tower constructed, and the old tank demolished.  That all adds up.  Elevating a tank could be a lot less costly.  The foundation might need to be refortified and new parts purchased to achieve the added height, but parts are still cheaper than a whole new tank.  Plus, there’s no need to acquire new property.  There’s also a shorter window of service interruption.  The actual raising of a tank may take less than 24 hours, although additional time would be involved in the planning process.

With their extensive background in the field, PTTG representatives can help you decide whether it would be worth it to modify a tank or build a new one. You should weigh your options carefully to determine what works best for your needs.

Engineers perform feasibility studies to pinpoint what the tank needs, including whether the tank’s foundation needs to be upgraded or not. Without a sound foundation, the tank may fail, so it’s important to determine whether the foundation needs to be fortified before any tank is modified.  Using the feasibility study, the engineer can then recommend which options would be the most practical and cost-effective. Feasibility studies can also show if pressure zones are within the variance of existing infrastructure.

Think of most prominent, and not so prominent, cities in the United States. They are generally built on low-lying lands along an ocean or river or lake.  Why?  Because that gave cities proximity to drinking water and reliable water transportation.  Water systems were constructed to serve these cities.  As populations grew, cities expanded beyond the original boundaries, often onto lands with higher elevations.  Water pressure changes depending on the elevation, so what works for a low-lying area wouldn’t for land that has a higher elevation.  That’s where raising a tank comes into play.

Manufactured parts have been shipped and are ready to install when crews arrive at the work site. Once the tank is drained, we used either jacks or cranes to raise or lower the tank, per customer’s specifications.  Our crews then weld the new parts onto the tank, touch it up with paint and turn it back over to the owner.  The tank is out of service for a few days to a few weeks.