Water Tank Painting: Can You Paint a Concrete Tank?

In several industries and sectors worldwide, water storage tanks are important. Whether it’s for domestic use, industrial, or commercial.

There are also many applications for water tank locations, such as above ground and below ground. This is something that allows for flexibility when it comes to tank material and installation.

However, tanks above ground aren’t always the most visually appealing sight. In fact, sometimes they can look clunky or stand out a little too much. Because of this, it’s quite commonplace to try anything to make sure that your above ground water storage tanks blend into the environment nicely.

One way to do this is by applying a coating or paint on the exterior of your tank. It can be colourless, just to give it shine and make it look brighter. Or, in some cases, it can be a different colour to try and make it more attractive to the eye.

We’re going to focus specifically on concrete water tanks for this post.

So, Can You Paint a Concrete Water Tank?

Before delivery, new tanks are often white washed or painted by the manufacturer. Usually, they last for many years before another coat of paint is required to restore the appearance of the tank.

But no matter how old or new your tank is, it’s crucial to ensure that the surface is adequately cured and cleaned. This means that there should be no loose debris at all. So no loose concrete, moss, or lichen.

Additionally, the tank needs to be empty. That’s essential. Any water left behind on the walls will prevent any applied paint from properly drying. This is also a good time to assess your tank for cracks, too. Not only will water seeping through cracks affect the paint drying process, but it will also cause damage further down the line.

Small stress or pressure strains can turn into big cracks that cause water contamination and allow corrosion to set in.

When it comes to concrete water tanks, they’re typically painted externally using water-based paints. In fact, concrete water storage tanks can use many of the same coating processes as steel water storage tanks. With the exception of zinc-rich primers.

A typical epoxy primer system for concrete tank exteriors would consist of one or two coatings. Then it would be followed by a polyurethane finish coating. Concrete water tanks should only really be painted with pure, 100% exterior acrylic paints.

The most likely reason for painting a concrete water tank, though? Mainly due to aesthetic purposes.

Uses for Concrete Tanks

As their name may suggest, concrete storage tanks are used for storage. In particular, they’re often designed to hold liquids that are ready for use in a variety of applications.

There are many different industries that use concrete storage tanks, like agriculture, chemical manufacturing, and food preparation. Plus, industries supplying clean water for human consumption – that’s a pretty important one.

Dangerous materials and substances can be safely stored in concrete tanks. Additionally, they can be used to gather and store extra rainwater and hold water ready for tasks such as firefighting and farming. That’s farming of both crops and livestock.

Potable water, or water suitable for use as drinking water, can also be stored in concrete water tanks.

Is It Safe To Store Potable Water?

Short answer: yes.

In general, storing potable water in concrete water tanks is safe.

However, it is always crucial to get expert guidance when selecting a water storage tank to ensure that the tank matches each client’s unique demands.

If you use your concrete tank to hold potable water, it needs to comply with HSE water storage regulations. Otherwise, it will need refurbishing or replacing to bring it into compliance with the rules in place. All of this is just to guarantee that your water is safe to drink.

At Clarion Water, we can be of assistance with this. See one of our case studies for more information.

Contact Clarion Water

CWS are experts when it comes to concrete tank installation, relining, and repairing. We even have more than 30 years of combined experience in legionella and water hygiene.

Our goal is to always give our customers a competent, cost-effective, and high-spec solution to their water management systems. And it doesn’t matter which industry they operate within.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any further inquiries regarding our concrete water storage tanks, tank refurbishing, or any of our other Clarion Water services.

Call us on 01943 872 311 or reach us by our email: info@clarionwater.co.uk.