Chem-Tainer 260 Gallon Plastic Open Top Batch Storage Tank

The Chem-Tainer 260 Gallon Plastic Open Top Batch Storage Tank (SKU TC3953AA) is a cylindrical open top tank built for batching, mixing-feed staging, and short-cycle bulk water storage where you need easy top access. It stands 53 inches tall on a compact 39 inch diameter footprint, holds 260 gallons, and is molded in natural white polyethylene. The open top makes it a true working batch tank rather than a sealed storage vessel: you can dose, stir, sample, and inspect from the top instead of fighting through a small bung.

At a glance

Will it work for your batch or storage job?

This is a white open top tank with a 1.9 specific gravity rating, and that SG number is the spec to check before you fill it. A 1.9 SG rating means the wall is engineered to carry contents up to 1.9 times the weight of water. Filled with plain water the contents weigh roughly 2,168 lb; the tank is rated to carry contents up to about 4,120 lb, so you have real headroom for heavier-than-water liquids within that ceiling. Notably, 1.9 is the heaviest rating in the open-top line, so a buyer running brine, slurry, or a dense batch chemistry does not need to step up to another unit. Verify only that your contents stay at or under 1.9 SG. The 39 inch diameter and 53 inch height let it slot into a tight equipment bay or sit on a small pad. If you are deciding between this and a taller or wider size, run the numbers through the Tank Sizing Calculator and the Tank Sizing Guide to match capacity to your real batch volume and refill cadence. See the technical drawing on this page for the molded-in dimensions and wall detail.

Open top tank: what it is good at, and what to plan for

Because it is an open top storage tank, plan for a few things up front. The open top is ideal for manual additions, mixing, and visual access, but it is not a sealed or vented closed system, so it is not the right choice where you need a fully enclosed vessel, vapor containment, or a pressurized feed. It also ships without pre-installed fittings: any outlet, bulkhead fitting, or gasket has to be specced and added separately, and every fitting or gasket elastomer must be chemical-compatible with whatever you store. If this tank will hold anything beyond water, confirm compatibility against the contents and respect the 1.9 SG rating as a hard limit, not a target. If your process actually needs fast, complete drainage and a clean residual heel rather than top-access batching, an open top is the wrong geometry; the comparison on Chem-Tainer cone-bottom tanks 30° vs 45° walks through that drainage tradeoff.

Sizing, support, and where it fits

The two weights to design around are the full-water weight of about 2,168 lb and the maximum rated contents weight of about 4,120 lb. Size your pad, stand, or floor loading to the heavier number if you intend to run denser contents, and add the dry tank weight on top of that. For above-ground installs, a level, fully supporting base matters; our guide on concrete pad sizing for above-ground polyethylene tanks covers the ACI framework for sizing that base correctly. For larger programs where this 260-gallon tank is one stage in a train, the industrial water reuse tank topology guide covers how to band and sequence storage stages, and if you are positioning it as a rural fire reserve, the fire-water reservoir tank design guide applies the NFPA 22 sizing discipline.

This tank ships LTL freight from the nearest Chem-Tainer plant to your delivery ZIP, drawn from a network that includes Hummelstown, PA; Albertville, AL; West Babylon, NY; and Keaau, HI. Freight is quoted live to your ZIP and is not bundled into the list price, so get an exact number on the Freight Cost Estimator before you order, or call 866-418-1777 and we will quote it for you and confirm the best ship-from point for your location.