500 Gallon Plastic Water Storage Tank

Where a 500 gallon vertical goes, and why the lane matters

A rural home on hauled water fills it weekly instead of every few days; a cattle or horse operation runs a float-fed trough off it; a market garden catches a good storm off a barn roof and waters from it for a week; a contractor supplies a job from one delivery; a remote property keeps it as the outage and fire reserve. At 73 inches tall the water surface stands six feet above the outlet when full, enough to flood any pump and to gravity-feed troughs and lines below the pad, and the 48 inch base is steady while still fitting through a double gate and down a side passage. Full, it carries more than two tons on a four foot circle, so the base must be flat, level, continuous and poured wider than the floor, and the tank should be strapped before the first fill wherever wind, animals or vehicles can reach it. The manway is just above head height for most people, so plan a short step for filling from the top and the yearly clean. On a tank this light the freight lane is usually a bigger number than the difference between two tanks, which is why seven plants matter: price the lane to your own ZIP before you compare. If you are weighing a vertical against a horizontal at this size, our vertical versus horizontal water tank guide covers the tradeoffs. Check the volume against your real draw and refill interval with the tank sizing calculator and set the reserve from the tank sizing guide. For a rural fire reserve, the fire water reservoir design guide explains how the volume is set.

Openings and fittings

1. Outlet. A 2 inch polypropylene female NPT bulkhead fitting, factory installed low in the wall. A 2 inch valve, camlock or hose adapter threads straight in. Support the valve and the first length of pipe on their own so the fitting carries water, not hardware.
2. Inlet. A 1-1/2 inch polypropylene female NPT bulkhead fitting for the fill line, a float valve or the overflow. Run the overflow to daylight away from the base.
3. Manway. A 16 inch threaded vented manway on top: wide enough to fill from a hose or a pump, drop a float in, and get a hand and a brush inside to clean. The vent lets air in and out as the level changes; never plug it.
4. Drawing. Norwesco's drawing for this tank, linked under Technical Drawing on this page, shows the fitting positions and the manway location.

Sizes and colours nearby

This tank also comes in dark green, part number 43105, and as the green California-only version, part number 43103, on the same 48 by 73 inch shell. Close above it is the 525 gallon vertical water tank, a Burnet, Texas tank on a narrower circle; well below it is the 305 gallon dark green tank. The colour swatches above the price switch between the versions of this tank.

Shipping and receiving

The tank ships LTL from the nearest of Norwesco's plants at Fairfield, Texas; Griffin, Georgia; Hanford, California; Owego, New York; Shawnee, Oklahoma; Tooele, Utah; or Washougal, Washington, 48 by 48 by 73 inches on a pallet at a ship weight of 94 lb. The listed price is before freight; the freight cost estimator gives the lane cost to your ZIP, or request a written quote. For a permanent base, the concrete pad sizing guide has the framework. At the tailgate, check the part number against 43101 on the bill of lading and look at the wall, the manway and both fittings for transit damage. Strap it, fill it with water the first time and hold it a day before it goes into service, watching the fittings and the base.

Questions before you order? Call 866-418-1777.