The Bushman 5000 Gallon Plastic Vertical Rainwater Harvesting Tank (SKU BM-30438) is a dark green polyethylene cylinder built for serious rainwater harvesting, fresh-water storage, and fire-reserve capacity. It stands 161 inches (about 13 feet 4 inches) tall on a 102 x 102-inch (8.5-foot) footprint, so before you commit to a site, confirm both the vertical clearance and a properly engineered pad underneath it. Full of water, this tank carries 41,700 pounds of contents - that load is the single biggest planning factor on a vertical tank this size.
Will this 5000 gallon Bushman work for your site?
This is a 5000 gallon vertical tank molded from polyethylene with a 1.0 specific gravity rating, which means it is built for water and water-density liquids - rainwater, fresh water, and fire-water reserve. Treat that 1.0 rating as a hard ceiling: do not store anything heavier than water in it, such as fertilizer solutions, brine, or chemicals above 1.0 SG. If you need 1.5 or 1.9 SG service, call 866-418-1777 and we will quote a chemical-rated tank instead. The green color helps limit light penetration and algae growth in outdoor rainwater service. At roughly 13 feet 4 inches tall on an 8.5-foot base, plan your inlet plumbing, overflow routing, and any ladder or platform access around that height. If you are weighing this against a smaller unit, the Tank Sizing Calculator and Tank Sizing Guide will help you match capacity to your roof catchment area and rainfall.
Fittings and the loaded weight you have to support
The fitting layout is shown on the technical drawing on this page. It includes three flat molded pads (15" x 15", 12" x 15", and 13" x 25") sized for fittings, access, and accessory mounting, an outlet and overflow kit rated at 4 inches, and a 1-inch bulkhead fitting with a polypropylene body and EPDM gasket. EPDM is the right elastomer for rainwater and fresh-water service, and the flat pads let you land your connections for inlet, draw, and overflow without fighting the curvature of the tank wall.
The number that drives your foundation work is weight: filled to capacity this tank holds 41,700 pounds of water, which is also its maximum rated contents weight at the 1.0 specific gravity rating, sitting on a 102.0 x 102.0-inch footprint. A tank this size needs a fully engineered, level pad - review our guide on concrete pad sizing for above-ground polyethylene tanks before you pour, because an uneven or undersized base is the most common and most expensive mistake on a tank of this scale.
Rainwater harvesting and fire-reserve planning
For a true rainwater harvesting setup, first-flush diversion and inlet filtration are what keep your stored water clean. Our guide to Bushman rainwater harvesting tanks and first-flush diverter sizing walks through the Texas Manual on Rainwater Harvesting approach, and our state-by-state rainwater tank sizing guide ties capacity to local rainfall and regulations. If this 5000 gallon Bushman is going into a rural fire-protection role, the fire-water reservoir design guide covers NFPA 22 sizing discipline and freeze protection for cold-climate sites.
This tank ships LTL freight from our plant in Fairfield, Texas, and at roughly 13 feet 4 inches tall on an 8.5-foot diameter it moves as an oversized vertical load - typically on a flatbed requiring a forklift or loader for customer-side offload, since no liftgate fits a tank this tall. Freight is quoted live to your ZIP rather than listed flat: get your exact number with the Freight Cost Estimator, or call 866-418-1777 and we will quote the run to your delivery address and confirm offload requirements for a tank this size.
