Fun digging a tank

[dcara]

For the past 2 weeks I have been digging a 114 ft diameter, 13 ft deep tank at some property we have.

-Cost of renting JD455 track loader/dozer for 2 weeks ~$2100
-Cost of fuel for 80 hours dozer time, ~$600
-Cost of seeing your life flash before your eyes as you go from fourth gear to 1st gear at the edge of the tank on the way back from a load dump, but accidently missing 1st and going into netural at the edge of the tank thus riding your dozer on its crash dive into the tank and heading for the bottom of the tank lickty split- -Priceless!

There were other exciting experiances on that thing the past 2 weeks but that one made me leave it in the bottom of the tank and stop for lunch at 10am.

 

[BusterBrown]

For the past 2 weeks I have been digging a 114 ft diameter, 13 ft deep tank at some property we have.

-Cost of renting JD455 track loader/dozer for 2 weeks ~$2100
-Cost of fuel for 80 hours dozer time, ~$600
-Cost of seeing your life flash before your eyes as you go from fourth gear to 1st gear at the edge of the tank on the way back from a load dump, but accidently missing 1st and going into netural at the edge of the tank thus riding your dozer on its crash dive into the tank and heading for the bottom of the tank lickty split- -Priceless!

There were other exciting experiances on that thing the past 2 weeks but that one made me leave it in the bottom of the tank and stop for lunch at 10am.

I've been wondering if you ever got that tank started. Sounds like you found the fast way to get another load. Is it good clay all the way down?

 

[dcara]

It was really good clay based sandy loam (Crocket loam specifically) all the way down with the exception of a thin (1 ft or so thick) layer of a clechi type of rock at about 8 feet down that took me about 2 hours to break a hole through. After I had a hole in it though I could get the bucket under it and chip up larger chunks of it. I have to say I was really impressed with that machine. I also cleared a couple of acres of heavy over growth in about a day. I knocked down trees up to a foot in diameter by using the teeth on the bucket to loosen the dirt around the tree down to about 18 inches and then I could just push them over. Someone had told me it was easier to pull down trees with a chain. NOT! DO NOT pull trees down as they will come down on top of you and try to climb into the cab with you. Even pushing them to the burn pile they can whip around and the branches can come into the cab and grab hold of your throttle, gear shift or whatever and pretty much take control of your machine while smacking you around.

 

[kickinbull]

But what is the tank for?

 

[hillrancher]

For the past 2 weeks I have been digging a 114 ft diameter, 13 ft deep tank at some property we have.

-Cost of renting JD455 track loader/dozer for 2 weeks ~$2100
-Cost of fuel for 80 hours dozer time, ~$600
-Cost of seeing your life flash before your eyes as you go from fourth gear to 1st gear at the edge of the tank on the way back from a load dump, but accidently missing 1st and going into netural at the edge of the tank thus riding your dozer on its crash dive into the tank and heading for the bottom of the tank lickty split- -Priceless!

There were other exciting experiences on that thing the past 2 weeks but that one made me leave it in the bottom of the tank and stop for lunch at 10am.

Those are a few of the reason you hire experienced people. They will get more done per hour and the risk are not yours.

 

[dcara]

The tank is for watering cattle.

As far as hiring experianced people goes, that cetainly has its place. The few quotes I got were 1.5 to 2 times more expensive and they way they wanted to do it was not how I wanted it done. To do it my way would have been even more expensive. I admit that an experianced operator could have done a better job in less time, but would it have been worth the extra expense? After all we are just talking about a hole in the ground, some land clearing, and also a little shaping in another area for erosion control. Now that I have competed the job I can still say no. I'm glad I did it myself and won't hesitate to do it again in the future if I have the time and don't get acceptable bids.

 

[Train]

Not trying to hijack your thread dcara but I've been having some fun of my own putting in some waterline for new waterers. First hundred feet was nice clean clay, no rocks. Just dug an eight foot deep trench the width of the bucket and laid the line in from the top. Then out of nowhere hit a seem of sand and rock. Just get near the bottom and the thing would cave in. So now it's eight feet down, eight feet wide and grabing clean fill from another site to line the bottom to cover the rocks. To top it off we have a pretty high water table here and of course yesterday afternoon we hit water. What a pain!

 

[KenB]

Not trying to hijack your thread dcara but I've been having some fun of my own putting in some waterline for new waterers. First hundred feet was nice clean clay, no rocks. Just dug an eight foot deep trench the width of the bucket and laid the line in from the top. Then out of nowhere hit a seem of sand and rock. Just get near the bottom and the thing would cave in. So now it's eight feet down, eight feet wide and grabing clean fill from another site to line the bottom to cover the rocks. To top it off we have a pretty high water table here and of course yesterday afternoon we hit water. What a pain!

:roll: Where do you live that you need to bury water lines 8 feet deep?

 

[Train]

Southern Alberta, and in our area it gets down to minus 30-40 celsius and can stay there for days. The old water lines are at 6 feet and they freeze almost every winter even though we have heat tapes on all the risers. The frost line here is considered to be 4 feet. We were lucky enough to purchase our own backhoe ( which I practicaly stole in my opinion) so the extra digging time only costs in fuel and that doesn't add up to much.

I always have a good laugh when the guys from down in the southern part of the U.S. talk about things freezing up.

And Ken stop rolling your eyes.

 

[Nowland Farms]

Train,

8' foot you say?

I put a line in across on of my pastures and went about 2.5' feet deep. Not because of the frost line but just to keep the plow out of it.

Heck, the frost line around here is about 2".

 

[cowtrek]

What's a frost line??? How do I figure how deep to put water lines?? The coldest it has ever gotten here (on record) was about 5 degrees above, for a couple hours before dawn... (grins)

Seriously, I sure don't envy you! The inlaws in Indiana have enough trouble putting pipes 4 feet deep. I lay water line here all day long with a subsoiler with a homemade boot on the back... Guess I shouldn't gripe as much during the heat of the summer though... OL JR

 

[Train]

Right now it gets a few degrees below freezing at night and a few degrees above during the day. My wife and I were just saying the other day what a breeze it would be if this was all winter was around here. On the flip side the summer here gets damn hot most years, with a lot of west wind to boot.

 

[cfpinz]

Southern Alberta, and in our area it gets down to minus 30-40 celsius and can stay there for days. The old water lines are at 6 feet and they freeze almost every winter even though we have heat tapes on all the risers. The frost line here is considered to be 4 feet. We were lucky enough to purchase our own backhoe ( which I practicaly stole in my opinion) so the extra digging time only costs in fuel and that doesn't add up to much.

I always have a good laugh when the guys from down in the southern part of the U.S. talk about things freezing up.

And Ken stop rolling your eyes.

The next time I start griping about having to dig up a line that's 3' deep I'll think about you and shut up.

cfpinz