Varem Bladder Tank Philippines: Hydropneumatic Pressure Tank Supply and Sizing

Varem is an Italian manufacturer of expansion vessels and membrane autoclaves, and its catalogue splits into distinct lines that are not interchangeable. The water line, which is what Philippine booster and pressure applications actually call for, includes INTERVAREM, MAXIVAREM LS CE, IDROVAREM CE, PLUSVAREM, INOXVAREM LS CE (stainless), ZINCVAREM LS CE (zinc coated), AQUAVAREM (horizontal), FLOVAREM (flow-through), and ELECTROVAREM (supplied with a pressure flow switch).

The heating line, covering EXTRAVAREM LR, MAXIVAREM LR CE, FLATVAREM, and STARVAREM, is built for closed heating circuits and should not be specified for potable cold water service, plus separate hot potable (EXTRAVAREM LC) and solar (SOLARVAREM CE) lines. The takeaway for a PH specifier: when a consultant writes Varem on a drawing without a series name, the drawing is incomplete. Before anyone buys, confirm three things: which line (water, hot potable, or heating), whether the CE-marked variant is required, and whether the wetted parts must be stainless or coated for the water quality on site. Getting the series wrong is the single most common reason a pressure tank fails early on a Philippine commercial installation.

Being straight about this saves everyone a procurement cycle. JOHOB Hardware Trading is not listed as a Varem distributor. We are a Philippines-based industrial equipment supplier serving commercial, industrial, and institutional buyers, sourcing from Philippine and China partner factories and delivering with local warranty and after-sales support. What we supply against this requirement is hydropneumatic bladder pressure tanks from 100 L to 5,000 L, built with replaceable EPDM rubber bladders, together with the rest of the pressure system: commercial booster pumps (we source Grundfos, DAB, Speroni, and CDL vertical multistage units), VFD duplex control panels built by Chutian with Inovance drives, stainless steel flexible connectors, and the valves and fittings that go around them. If your specification names Varem explicitly, tell us at RFQ stage and we will say so rather than substitute quietly. If it is written to a performance envelope, we will quote a tank that meets it and show the sizing arithmetic behind the selection.

A bladder tank does not store its nameplate volume as usable water. Usable volume, called drawdown, comes out of Boyle's law: drawdown equals nominal volume multiplied by the absolute precharge pressure, multiplied by the difference between one over the absolute cut-in pressure and one over the absolute cut-out pressure. Worked example on a 500 L tank set for a typical low-rise booster: precharge 2.0 bar gauge (3.0 bar absolute), pump cut-in 2.1 bar gauge (3.1 bar absolute), cut-out 3.4 bar gauge (4.4 bar absolute). Drawdown equals 500 x 3.0 x (1/3.1 minus 1/4.4), which is about 143 L, or roughly 29 percent of nominal. That ratio holds across sizes and matches the imperial figures other Philippine suppliers publish (42 gallons giving about 12 usable is the same 29 percent). Size from there: divide drawdown by your peak draw rate to get run time between starts, and check the result against the motor manufacturer's permitted starts per hour, commonly 15 to 20 for small motors. If the tank is too small the pump short-cycles and the motor windings and contactors fail early. If the design already uses a VFD, the tank is sized for stabilisation rather than storage, which our guide on VFD versus fixed speed pumps explains, so we ask for the pump curve before quoting.

For commercial booster duty in the Philippines the bladder type is normally the correct specification, and it is what we supply from 100 L to 5,000 L. Where the design pressure and vessel size cross into pressure vessel territory, ASME construction applies. If the tank feeds a booster set you are still sizing, our guide on how to size a booster pump for a commercial building walks the demand side.

Consultants and building officials will ask what the vessel is certified to, and the answer needs to be documentary rather than verbal. On equipment JOHOB supplies, the applicable marks depend on the item: ASME construction on pressure vessels where applicable, CE marking on electrical equipment and material handling, ISO 9001 quality management systems at the manufacturer, and TUV SUD testing. On the water storage side supplied under our TankSmith sister brand, WRAS-certified panels apply. Where the installation touches potable water, the design also has to sit correctly against Philippine plumbing practice, so we write our sizing and layout notes against the National Plumbing Code of the Philippines and the National Building Code rather than against imported rules of thumb. Ask any supplier, including us, for the certificate naming the specific vessel model rather than a general company certificate, and for the documents handed over at delivery for your operations and maintenance manual. Installation contracting is arranged with your licensed contractor.

Pricing on pressure tanks and complete pump sets is quote-based and we do not publish price lists, because the number moves with volume, working pressure, connection size, bladder material, and whether the tank ships alone or as part of a pump set from our pumping and pressure systems range. On timing, standard lead times are 21 to 35 days for ex-stock items and 45 to 90 days for made-to-order units, so a made-to-order vessel needs to enter procurement roughly three months before the plant room is scheduled for commissioning. On tax, 12 percent VAT applies to VAT-registered buyers, while PEZA and SBMA locators and exporters are handled at zero VAT, and we set that up at quotation stage; our page on supply for SBMA and PEZA locators covers the paperwork. Coverage is nationwide: NCR and the rest of Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, and the PEZA, SBMA, and Clark economic zones. We respond to RFQs within one business day. To get a usable quote in one pass, send peak demand in litres per minute, required pressure range, pump model or curve, connection size, and whether the specification names a particular brand. If it names Varem, say so and we will tell you straight away whether we can meet it or you should source that brand direct.

• Hydropneumatic Bladder Pressure Tank
• Commercial Booster Pumps
• VFD Duplex Control Panel
• Guide: How to Size a Booster Pump
• 200L Diaphragm Pressure Tank Supplier

Reviewed: August 2026