Maintenance and Troubleshooting

In a Karachi apartment building, the shared water tanks are the responsibility of whoever controls the building’s common areas: the residents’ union or management committee where one exists, the landlord where one person owns the building, and all the flat owners jointly where there is neither. A tenant is responsible only for a tank that […]

A water tank pump lasts for years if four things are looked after: it never runs dry, its foot valve stays clear, its electrical supply is protected, and the tank it draws from is kept free of sand and sludge. Most pump failures in Karachi homes trace back to one of these, and grit from

To prevent algae in a water tank, keep light out. Algae cannot grow in the dark, so an opaque tank with a tight lid stays free of it. If your tank walls are already green, the tank needs to be drained, scrubbed and disinfected with chlorine, and then the light has to be blocked or

To keep a water tank clean after cleaning, do four things: keep the lid and cover sealed, screen every opening, look inside once a month, and control what goes in when supply or a tanker arrives. Then clean again in 6 months. A cleaned tank does not stay clean by itself in Karachi, because the

To disinfect a water tank after cleaning, add chlorine at about 50 mg/L, which is 80 grams of high-strength calcium hypochlorite granules or 1 litre of plain 5% bleach for every 1,000 litres of tank capacity. Fill the tank, leave it for 24 hours, drain it, then fill once with clean water, wait 30 minutes

To find out whether your water tank is leaking, fill it, stop all use, mark the water level and check it again after eight to twelve hours. A drop means water is escaping through the tank, a fitting or the pipes. In an underground tank that matters twice over, because any gap that lets clean

Most water tank problems in Karachi come down to five causes: sludge on the tank floor, a lid or cover that does not seal, a faulty float valve, a crack or loose fitting, or dirty water arriving from the supply. Find which one you have and the fix is usually simple. This guide lists the

Hard water stains on tank walls are mineral deposits, mostly calcium carbonate, left behind when hard water sits and evaporates. Remove them by scraping and pressure-washing, and treat stubborn scale on plastic or steel with a mild food-safe acid such as citric acid, followed by a thorough rinse and chlorine disinfection. Never use bathroom acid

For a house in Karachi, the right materials are reinforced concrete for the underground tank and multi-layer food-grade plastic for the overhead tank. Concrete suits burial and large volumes. Layered polyethylene resists sun, blocks the light that algae needs, does not rust in sea air and is easy to clean. Fibreglass and stainless steel earn