What should I look for in a used milk tank

[maple flats]

when you get the tank home, remove that valve and get close up pics of the threads. A ball valve is asking for trouble. Most milk tank valves are called a butterfly valve. They are costly, but the valves from Brewer's hardware are similat to milk tank valves and will not burst when they freeze. The ball valves burst if closed with sap filling the ball, when it freezes the ice has no place to expand and that bursts the valve. If you don't want to do9 it by getting a proper valve you can protect the ball valve by adding a second ball valve. Then when done pumping, close the first valve and open the second on and empty the line. Then close the second one and open the first. That way the second valve has no water in the ball and the first one is full open and thus neither one will burst.. The first one is the one closest to the tank.

[Haynes Forest Products]

I might also add that ball valves have a hidden danger that most users don't know about and that is the trapped liquid that surrounds the ball when in the closed position.
When a inline ball valve is opened there is a small amount of liquid that stays trapped inside the casting void and will bulge out the sides of the valve. Metal valves such as SS, Bronze and Brass will not show signs of this damage in most cases but the valve will still work but over time it will develop leaks. A PVC valve will split and break apart due to its inability to stretch. Unused ball valves should be set at a 45 degree angle to allow the liquids to drain from all areas of the valve. Working on hundreds of irrigation systems I will find that as you transition from closed to open and vise versa water will spray out the side of the valve but will seal up in either the open or closed position but can develop a small leak.

I use a lot of the PVC slide gates that are used on spas because they don't trap liquid inside themselves.

[Haynes Forest Products]

https://www.ebay.com/p/Swimming-Pool....c100005.m1851

This style valve is a cheap alternative when plumbing bulk tanks in to your system. I have 3 SS bulk tanks tied together that feed into my shack into the RO. One of the biggest challenges is to be able to store sap in on tank and wash the others without interrupting the operation. When you simply plumb the tank into the shack you make cleaning it a challenge so using this style valve allows you to divert the sap to the shack or to the ground for cleaning or to another tank. This style only divers so you will need a shut off valve or a cap to close it off.

When it comes to freezing conditions I have heat tape on everything outside so under any conditions I can keep going.

[Maple River Sugar]

Well I made it home with the tank also a press and I also picked up a transfer pump. Thanks for the advice on everything, the valve will need some work. I feel blessed.[ IMG_3562.jpgATTACH=CONFIG]18833[/ATTACH]IMG_3565.jpg

[maple flats]

Congratulations, you made some good purchases.

[maple flats]

Was the compressor available too? While you may not want to connect it or test to see if both work now, you might in the future. An operating tank is a huge improvement, one that most do not have. If it is available, consider it.

[Maple River Sugar]

It wasn't.

Thanks

[Maple River Sugar]

The valve on the tank is 2 inches wide. What would some suggestions be on getting a new valve that would match up with the tank threads using the tri-clover style of valves. My concern is I don't know the style of thread on the tank and would hate to order the wrong fitting.
The tank is a Sunset.

[Old Farmer]

Drilling out a ball valve like the one shown solves the freezing problem. This is one that was on one of my stock watering tanks.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[Maple River Sugar]

I have gotten my adapter for my dairy tank which is bevel to triclamp 1.5". I was going to place a 1.5" butterfly valve at the dairy tank and run a tc extension tube to a 3-way ball valve. From the 3-way valve I would run an reducer extension to the sprinkler pump. My thoughts are i could pump off the 275 gallon in the back of my truck to the dairy tank utilizing the sprinkler pump, then adjust the position to use the sprinkler pump to draw from the dairy tank and fill the head tank.

Does this setup sound logical? Use of valve types okay?

Thanks