Can you lift the tank up there? If yes, go for it if YOU want to.
I have a raised platform that has held different tanks over the last 5 years. Originally my head tank was a 415 gal Sunset Milk tank. It worked fine but I changed to a 200 gal after that and 2 years ago I changed to a 150 gal. The reason I kept reducing was because I decided I didn't want that much concentrate in my head tank. I RO into the head tank and really only wanted 1.5-2 hrs ahead (actually my boil rate is 70-80 GPH).
I ask about lifting the weight because I used a 4 ton excavator to place my heavier tanks and as far out front as I was lifting the 415 one it was somewhat close to my max. with that mini excavator.
As far as the platform, mine has worked well. I simply set 4 poles pressure treated 4x4's set 5' deep resting on a concrete 4" solid block, with one under where each leg was going to be on the 415. As I moved to smaller ones it proved to be plenty strong enough. On top of my posts, I sat a 4x4 the length of the deck, which was 10', well out past the end of the tanks and I used a steel truss plate on each side to hold the 4x4 from shifting. Then across the 4x4's I placed 2x4 joists every 16" and then the flooring on the deck is 2x6 laid flat and spaced about 1.5" apart. At the sugarhouse end it is screwed to a 2x4 which is screwed to each stud the full length. At the end away from the sugarhouse I have a 2x6 diagonal to hold the posts square. Then my tank butts tight against the north wall of the sugarhouse. The outlet enters thru a cutout in the wall and the main valve is in the sugarhouse. This works very well. If you do something similar, just be sure to have the tank high enough to feed the evaporator and allow for a future pre-heater in a hood. On mine I have a preheater and the tank bottom is about 16" above the top of the highest point on my pre-heater. This has proven good, in all the years I've had it like this I never even had to open any of the 4 bleeder vents I installed in the pre-heater in case of an air lock.
For a 600 gal tank you may want to use 4x6 PT posts.
Now, if you plan to get an RO in the next few years, that 600 is too big, holding sap is far better than holding concentrate for more that about 2 hrs unless you can keep it cold, like maybe 30F.
Last edited by maple flats; 10-16-2017 at 04:44 PM.
Dave Klish, I recently ordered a 2x6 wood fired evaporator from A&A Sheet Metal which I will be converting to oil fired
Now have solar, 2x6 finish pan, 5 bank 7x7 filter press, large water jacketed bottler, and tankless water heater.
Recently bought another Gingerich RO, this one was a 125, but a second membrane was added thus is a 250, like I had.
After running a 2x3, a 2x6, 3x8 tapping from 79 taps up to 1320 all woodfired, now I'm going to a 2x6 oil fired and a 200-425 taps.