[chrismroberts]

I've been thinking, are they really that insecure?

I know this is an emotive subject, but I'm considering leasing a van, and don't want to bolt a great big tank through the chassis.

The thing is, I see low loaders with cars sat on the back.... and they're secured with ratchets, and a car must weigh a tonne at least? And you see big articulated flat beds with pieces of concrete on the back secured with them, so they must be safe?

The thing is, I'm using a 400ltr lay flat tank at the moment, which is secured with ratchets, but I want to upgrade to a 500 litre upright tank.... so really need to know if ratchets will be safe. I reckon they are... but is there any crash data for them?

[Sir Squeaky]

Perfectly ok to ratchet it down on a flat tank, providing it's up against the bulkhead.

I reckon it would keep working loose on an upright though.
Wouldn't fancy it myself.

Why would you want upright anyway?
It'll just make the van wallow about.

[chrismroberts]

Perfectly ok to ratchet it down on a flat tank, providing it's up against the bulkhead.

I reckon it would keep working loose on an upright though.
Wouldn't fancy it myself.

Why would you want upright anyway?
It'll just make the van wallow about.

I guess it leaves more storage space on the van floor, don't like storing my gear on top of the tank, it slides about  However, looking at the 500 liter flat tank on Gardiners, it looks to have a smaller footprint than the 400, but still isn't that tall.

I guess the weak point is the hooks on the ratchets. The load fixings are going to be strong, and the straps themselves, just whether the hooks wouldn't deform in an accident?

[Sir Squeaky]

I guess the weak point is the hooks on the ratchets. The load fixings are going to be strong, and the straps themselves, just whether the hooks wouldn't deform in an accident?

That's the least of your worries if you have crash mate.
Everything will deform anyway!
I'd be more concerned with how good the front of the van is in crash tests.

If you're going to worry about that sort of thing you'll be making your kids wear goggles to play conkers and a harness on the roundabout!

[Alex Gardiner]

Ratchet straps are completely safe and crash-worthy.......if fitted correctly within the correct breaking strains to approved mounting points.

The Eden Project near us recently had their new 'Seed' delivered which is a carved lump of Cornish Granite about 25ft high and weighs about 700 tons. This was delivered on a low loader and held in place entirely with ratchet straps.

The breaking strain on the metal hooks is usually the weakest point of any ratchet strap, but this can still be very high. I have a Northerntools catalogue here and some of the ratchet straps have a hook strength of 10,000kg.

[*Mr Tumble]

This whole mullarkey about tanks of water makes me laugh.    If you think about all the loads of stuff that are carried around the country with NO security - lumps of lead flashing, pallets of bricks, bags of sand, bog rolls, newspapers, bedding, etc etc etc., and none of it secured!

Yet people ARE killed by being hit by loose dogs in the back of cars, boxes of chocolates on the parcel shelf, toys in the same place etc etc., and noone say they should be stapped down and subjected to 'Thatcham tests'.  I can just see an Alsation agreeing to be strapped in!

Keep your tank against the bulkhead and don't drive like a pr*ck and you'll be ok.

They say that if they took all the traffic lights away from road junctions we'd all be safer drivers as we would be more careful - same applies here - take the straps off, be sensible about how you drive and don't listen to the pople who only want to sell you more straps etc.

Good advice, and I don't charge for it.    

[*Mr Tumble]

This whole mullarkey about tanks of water makes me laugh.    If you think about all the loads of stuff that are carried around the country with NO security - lumps of lead flashing, pallets of bricks, bags of sand, bog rolls, newspapers, bedding, etc etc etc., and none of it secured!

Yet people ARE killed by being hit by loose dogs in the back of cars, boxes of chocolates on the parcel shelf, toys in the same place etc etc., and noone say they should be stapped down and subjected to 'Thatcham tests'.  I can just see an Alsation agreeing to be strapped in!

Keep your tank against the bulkhead and don't drive like a pr*ck and you'll be ok.

They say that if they took all the traffic lights away from road junctions we'd all be safer drivers as we would be more careful - same applies here - take the straps off, be sensible about how you drive and don't listen to the pople who only want to sell you more straps etc.

Good advice, and I don't charge for it.    

[tompoole]

Ratchet straps are fine, just make sure the hooks are rated to 10 ton and its attaced to the chassis.

[tompoole]

Ratchet straps are fine, just make sure the hooks are rated to 10 ton and its attaced to the chassis.

[mr D]

If you're going to worry about that sort of thing you'll be making your kids wear goggles to play conkers and a harness on the roundabout!

well put!!

[john tomkins]

Ratchet straps are fine, just make sure the hooks are rated to 10 ton and its attaced to the chassis.

Then there is the other side of the coin.........
Does drilling the chassis to bolt the tank down weaken the chassis?
Have a bad crash and the insurance assessors find you been drilling holes in and weakening the chassis,.... will they pay up?

[Sir Squeaky]

This whole mullarkey about tanks of water makes me laugh.     If you think about all the loads of stuff that are carried around the country with NO security - lumps of lead flashing, pallets of bricks, bags of sand, bog rolls, newspapers, bedding, etc etc etc., and none of it secured!

Yet people ARE killed by being hit by loose dogs in the back of cars, boxes of chocolates on the parcel shelf, toys in the same place etc etc., and noone say they should be stapped down and subjected to 'Thatcham tests'.  I can just see an Alsation agreeing to be strapped in!

Keep your tank against the bulkhead and don't drive like a pr*ck and you'll be ok.

They say that if they took all the traffic lights away from road junctions we'd all be safer drivers as we would be more careful - same applies here - take the straps off, be sensible about how you drive and don't listen to the pople who only want to sell you more straps etc.

Good advice, and I don't charge for it.     

Well said. Spot on.
It's ridiculous what people worry about these days.

[Sir Squeaky]

Ratchet straps are fine, just make sure the hooks are rated to 10 ton and its attaced to the chassis.

Then there is the other side of the coin.........
Does drilling the chassis to bolt the tank down weaken the chassis?
Have a bad crash and the insurance assessors find you been drilling holes in and weakening the chassis,.... will they pay up?

Ha ha! You may be right!
I wouldn't fancy doing it.

[Dean Aspects]

I have just contacted a local garage about fixing a 650 ltr tank into my van and they said the ratchet straps are more than enough as they use them for straping cars down and they never move made me realise that sometimes we scaremainer ourselves

Dean

[jampot]

i use ratchet straps on my 650litre in a primstar,
solid and doesnt move at all.
seems good enough 

[Sir Squeaky]

Great, plenty of realistic people for once.

Now can we lock and hide this thread before the girly "professional"people turn up...?

[Balvindaa]

Hi
     I had my system installed by Cleantech. I have 3x400litre upright tanks ratchet strapped together and bolted to the floor with really beefy equal angle "L" bracketts. I have had the system for almost 2 years now and the tanks are still rock solid as ever. They used 4 ratchett straps. I think they are 5 tonne breaking capacity each which gives me 20 tonnes. (Hope I have got the technical babble right). My van doesn't wallow from side to side. I have them fitted the width of two omnipole 50 litre trollies away from the bulkhead. The reason why I opted for the upright tanks is to save on floor space for the trollies. I hope this helps.
                  Bal
                           

[gary999]

the ratchet strapping it self has a proof test rating of 6-1 so if ratchets have
a safe working load of 5 tonne the test to break is six times this.people
are correct on here about the delta links or claw hooks are the weak points
and have a proof test rating of 2-1.

periodic checks of wear to the strapping and any deformity in the claws
especially straightening you should replace immediately even the material is designed to stretch once it has gone beyond its elastic limit or 8% wear if
memory serves me correctly its less than useless.

when i use to be on site inspection ratchet straps were generally replaced every 6 months due to wear and tear

[Bazzy1999]

What about chain straps??

Most of the lorry drivers i use to deal with in my old job had chain straps...


Bazz...

[michael papworth]

There is an old saying - a chain is as strong as its weakest link.

There are TWO weakest links in this story:

The weakest link 1 - is the tie-down points on the floor of the vehicle.

The weakest link 2 - is the guy behind the steering wheel.

Sure, strap the tank down - you don't want it to be sliding around when you're driving normally.

Just don't expect the straps to save your life of you have a 20+ mph head-on crash with a half-full tank. They won't. The tank will come away from its mooring and crush you to death in a fraction of a second. You won't last long enough to say, "Oh, sh...." And please don't think that putting the tank against the bulkhead will make a scrap of difference. It won't.

So ...

Obey the 2-second rule and you will never have a crash that's your fault. If someone crashes into you head-on, you're going to die, straps or no straps. Just hope that s/he's insured to look after your family after you're gone.