Price of tanks

[TOPTECH]

Does anyone know why a steel tank costs more than an aluminum one? My guess would be the manufacturing process since a steel tank uses a smaller amount of what is normally a cheaper material. It's my understanding a steel tank is press formed from a sheet of steel with some additional welding & machine work to form the valve threads & base. Are aluminum tanks made the same way or are they castings? Just curious, thanks in advance.

 

[msgmotor]

On a related note, why do they have round bottoms?

 

[Tavi]

.....look here http://www.pressedsteel.com/page10.html

not all steel tanks are made this way. Some are pipe with ends welded on.

 

[jbd]

are made from one piece of solid aluminum that weighs about 32 lbs. I have seen a video of the entire process. it is truly amazing how much force is used to do this. I think its in the realm of 2500 tons of pressure.