The Chem-Tainer 45 Gallon PE Rectangular Open Top Tank is a compact polyethylene vessel built for batching, washdown, parts soaking, and small-volume water storage where you need full top access to the contents. The open top lets you load, mix, and clean out the tank by hand, and the rectangular footprint sits flat against a wall or in a corner without the wasted floor space a round tank leaves behind. At 45 gallons it holds roughly 375 pounds of water when full, so the pad or shelf underneath it has to carry that load.
Will it work for your job?
This is a straightforward open top rectangular tank in standard polyethylene, rated for 45 gallons. It ships as a bare vessel with no preinstalled fittings, which keeps it simple for gravity-fed or manually dipped applications - fill from the top, draw from the top, or add your own bulkhead fitting where you need a drain or feed line. People searching for an open top tank or a rectangular open tank land here because the geometry is the point: the wide flat opening makes it easy to scoop, stir, or rinse, and the squared sides make it easy to place. The 45-gallon capacity is sized for water-class service at roughly 375 pounds full; if you plan to hold anything denser than water, verify your capacity-by-weight before ordering. Not sure 45 gallons fits your throughput or holding time? Run the numbers with the Tank Sizing Calculator or read the Tank Sizing Guide first. Open-top vessels also slot naturally into grey-water and rainwater batching trains - the industrial water reuse topology guide covers staging open-top storage into a reuse train.
Placement and weight
Plan for about 375 pounds at full water capacity, plus the weight of the tank itself. Polyethylene flexes slightly when filled, so the tank needs continuous, flat support across its entire base - a level pad, bench, or shelf that carries the full footprint rather than just the edges. See the technical drawing on this page for the exact outside dimensions so you can confirm it fits your bench or floor space and clears any overhead obstruction during fill and cleanout. If this tank lives outdoors or on a structural pad, the concrete pad sizing guide walks through supporting a filled polyethylene tank correctly.
The mistake to avoid
The biggest miss on an open top tank this size is treating it as a sealed storage vessel. It is open by design, so it offers no vapor containment, no pressure rating, and no spill protection if it is bumped or overfilled - keep it on a stable, level surface and do not stack or overfill it. The second miss is assuming fittings are included: they are not. If you need a bottom drain or a plumbed outlet, plan to add your own bulkhead fitting, and remember that a leak-free bulkhead needs a matched gasket seated against the tank wall, sized to the wall thickness shown on the technical drawing - that is what separates a dry install from a self-inflicted drip on day one.
This tank ships LTL freight from the Chem-Tainer plant in West Babylon, NY, quoted live to your ZIP code - there is no flat shipping number on an open top tank because LTL cost depends on distance and your delivery location. Because it ships from a single Northeast plant, ZIPs in the Northeast will generally see the lowest freight and far-West ZIPs the highest, so quote your own ZIP before you assume. Get an exact number in seconds with the Freight Cost Estimator, or call 866-418-1777 and we will quote it for you. List price shown is before freight.
